The Nomad Emissary
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to Expedition: Omicron. The hunt for the trio which escaped Planet Omicron is still on with no results insofar: yet someone literally crashes down on Earth to start a campaign of trouble while openly challenging the Satella Police and its ally, the Subspace. Can he actually be brought down in battle or will they fall in combat by recklessly charging towards him?
1. Chapter 1: Tabuu

**The Nomad Emissary**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: Tabuu**

10:08 AM (Japan Time), Saturday August the 28th, 2205…

"… Hmmm!"

"Uh-oh."

"That guy…"

"Calm down, Luna – chan."

"Probabilities of a catastrophe taking place clock at 98.5%..."

Shirogane Luna, Saishouin Kizamaro, Jack, Mode and Pedia were standing in Kodama Town's square close to the Big Wave building: Luna was tapping the ground with her right foot being obviously impatient, Mode was trying to calm her down, Kizamaro gulped, Pedia made a calculation and Jack looked rather annoyed.

"Mode. Time." She icily commanded.

"10:10 AM…"

"Ki~h! And we'd agreed to meet at 10:00 AM… 10 minutes late! That guy…! He'd be better off hoping there's a God which takes pity upon the pitiful ones…!" She hissed.

Kizamaro, Pedia and Jack remained silent and tension could be felt building up in the air: they heard rushed footsteps and Ushujima Gonta along with Ox rushed into the area.

"Sorry~! Sorry, sorry, sorry~! I overslept! Sorry, sorry, sorry~! Please forgive me, _iinchou_!" He pleaded as he dropped into his knees in front of Luna.

"Gonta…!" She hissed.

"Y-yes, ma'am?" He gulped.

"… YOU MORON!" She yelled.

"Yikes!"

"LATE! LATE! LATE~! 10 MINUTES LATE~! IS THAT A WAY OF KEEPING A DEAL, YOU CONTAINER OF FATS AND CALORIES? HUH? ARE YOU CRAVING YOUR GRAVE OR WHAT? HUH? YOU _BAKA_~! NEXT TIME I'M GOING TO FEED YOU CARROTS AND SPINACH!" She roared.

"Y-yes, ma'am…" He turned white.

"Buro~! If ya had programmed the alarm clock like I told ya to do then this wouldn't have happened, Gonta!" Ox told him.

"Then wake me up!" Gonta scolded.

"I tried! But you were playing deaf!" Ox grumbled.

"No way!" Gonta uttered.

"SHADDUP!" Luna snapped at him.

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

"I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE A FATTY MORON LIKE YOU WAS INVITED TO FORM PART OF THE SATELLA POLICE'S "RAID TROOP"…! WHEN I DISCOVER HOW TO DO DENPA - HENKAN LIKE ROCK MAN – SAMA THEN I'LL REPLACE YOU THERE! GET IT!" She yelled.

"Do Denpa – Henkan… Uh-oh." Ox muttered.

"Yeah. I overheard Virgo saying that Ophiucus was a leech. Had she been able to, she'd driven Subaru crazy back then before deleting him…" Jack muttered.

"I'm surprised, though, that Gemini Spark's attack worked on her because electricity is weak to grass…" Kizamaro muttered.

"Guess that was because she was low in HP…" Jack shrugged.

"BE READY, GONTA! I'LL EXPOSE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR FLAWS!"

Gonta turned even paler while the other five rolled their eyes…

10:23 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Nothing yet… Choina is huge! I'm trying searching by description but no luck insofar… But I'll find it, nevertheless!"

"Find what? A bargain, Akatsuki?"

"Yikes! Queen Tia! Don't sneak on me from behind!"

"Trouble."

"Yeah. You said it, Acid."

"What are you looking for, hmmm?"

"Not "what" but "whom"… One of Subaru's friends!"

"Is that so?"

"Man! Don't look at me with that utter skeptical look!"

Akatsuki Shidou and Acid had been working with a console inside of the Satella Police HQ when Queen Tia snuck on them from behind all of a sudden, thus startling Shidou.

"I have no reason to trust you." She told him.

"Come on! You've never heard of Gemini?"

"Thunder God Gemini? Virgo told me about him."

"Well! I'm looking for his host: Futaba Tsukasa. His whereabouts are unknown ever since May, 2204… Directly afterwards the Mu Continent Incident… And we think a gang is keeping him hostage in Choina to do bad things to him. That's why both Vadous and I are working on trying to get a hold of him while the rest of the staff is looking for that bothersome trio which escaped from Planet Omicron." Shidou exposed.

"Like Shidou said… That's what we are working on." Acid confirmed.

"Hmpf. Fine. But I'll get around to my goal sooner or later."

"Goal…? Oi, oi… Let's not start that again, alright? Leave Hibiki alone: you scare her."

"Ah. So I scare her… She must've realized by now." She calmly replied while slightly lifting the right eyebrow.

"Now, now! Queen Tia… Please leave that child alone." Dr. Yoiri suddenly walked in.

"Dr. Yoiri. Good morning." She greeted.

"Can I have a talk with you?"

"… Roger."

"Good luck, Shidou – chan, Acid – chan."

"_Hai_~…" Shidou replied in a resigned tone of voice.

"At least they're not as worse as Omega's nicknames." Acid reminded him with a shrug.

"Right. Or that joke of "Moon Ace" and "Acid Disaster"… Let's try checking another region next." He shrugged.

"… Shidou. Mail from Jack." Acid reported.

"Jack? Open it." Shidou commanded.

"Roger."

"Huh? E~H? No way! Wait… Check the address!" Shidou gasped once he checked it out.

"… It doesn't match." Acid replied.

"Omega! This is that guy's handiwork!" He cursed.

"What's wrong, Akatsuki – kun?" The WAXA Chief asked.

"Omega and his stupid jokes!" He yelled.

"Hum? Ah. I see."

The mail was photo showing Jack and Futaba Tsukasa apparently going out in a date: they were holding their hands together and looking at each other.

"That guy… He never grows tired of teasing people with poorly edited photos… I'm not surprised Vadous always ends up short of patience to deal with him." Shidou fumed.

"It could be worse." Acid whispered.

"Yeah, I know! But this doesn't help, either." Shidou grumbled.

"Mail. From Moon Disaster." Acid reported.

"Another! Read it."

"Roger… "… YO, YO, YO! The week's poll is this: what is Harp Note's identity? Possible choices: Madonna's reincarnated soul; Shakira's reincarnated soul and Miss Universe! Results insofar: 59%, 30% and 11%! YO, YO, YO~!" … How ridiculous." Acid grumbled.

"Totally. They set up polls which don't reflect truth." Shidou sounded exasperated by now.

"Well… As long as their real identities aren't exposed…" The WAXA Chief shrugged.

"YIKES!" An officer yelped.

"There we go again." Shidou rolled his eyes like he knew what had happened.

"What's wrong?"

"A mouse-trap! In my drawer!" The officer cursed as he tried to take it off his fingers.

"Who the heck would do something so arcane?" Another wondered.

"Omega." Shidou replied.

"That Omega guy must be nuts." A third added.

"Totally." Shidou confirmed with a sigh.

"Take this off my fingers!" The officer yelped.

Shidou sighed in defeat along with Acid and the Chief rolled his eyes…

10:29 AM (Japan Time)…

"… I CAN'T STAND THIS ANYMORE~! SHOW YOUR HIDE, YOU BLOODY CONSPIRATOR! EIGHT POWER OUTAGES IN ONE MONTH! WHO THE HELL IS MESSING WITH THE ELECTRICTY, HUH? SHOW YOUR HIDES! I'LL MAKE MINCEMEAT OUTTA YOU~!"

"There he goes again, Misora."

"Yeah. No wonder. Eight power outages in one month is pure sabotage and it's gotta be a rival studio."

"Pororon! At least it ain't Rocky."

"Yeah. He'd blow everything up."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think I know who they mean, Suzuka."

Hibiki Misora and Harp ignored Urakata Mamorou's ramblings and met up with Suzuka and her Wizard, Ice.

"Yeah? Who do they mean?"

"War – Rock, Hoshikawa Subaru's Wizard."

"Oh. Subaru – kun's Wizard…"

"Correct. He's too hyperactive." Misora rolled her eyes.

"NYA~H! THAT'S ENOUGH! I'LL ROOT THEM OUT WITH MY VERY OWN HANDS! _OKUBI CHOUDAI_! I'LL SLICE YOUR NECK! GET READY!"

"And I did ask a favor out of Akatsuki – san to check on the staff's backgrounds but he didn't find enough evidence. We've set up an IR battery-powered camera to check, too, but we've recorded no – one yet so the saboteur could be very well be in the electrical distribution plant, too…" Misora told Suzuka.

"In short: we're stuck. What a month." Suzuka sighed.

Both girls slapped their foreheads in defeat and the Wizards sighed…

10:33 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Mwah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h! I'm Terror Man! Be terrorized! I'm gonna rip through you Viruses! Mwa, hah, hah, ha~h!"

"War Rock… Stop it already."

"Beg to me."

"Come on!"

"That sounds better."

"You're worse than Solo's manias."

"Did you call?"

"Yikes! Solo! What, you turned stalker or what?"

"Maybe."

"I preferred you serious and hostile."

"Guess you've stirred something on me. But that of Planet Omicron was too much for me. And I like sitting in a chair in front of you and watching your reactions."

"Fan – tas – tic."

"Heh, heh, heh. Maybe a passing birdie rang him up?"

"Rock! It was you, wasn't it?"

"Ga…"

"Laplace confirms it."

Hoshikawa Subaru (aged 13) had been walking down a pathway across a forest while War Rock had been slicing the air: Subaru rolled his eyes but he suddenly felt a hand land on his right shoulder from behind and it turned out to be Solo: Laplace was accompanying him and Solo had a smug smile on his face: Subaru began to look and sound exasperated.

"What a morning!"

"B-B-B-Bertie~!" A voice rang out from the Hunter – VG.

"Omega – san…!" Subaru groaned in exasperation.

"OMEGA~!" A man's voice roared.

"Ops. Bossing bossy boss came…"

"Stop trolling Subaru~!" The man yelled.

"Sure, _daitouryou_."

"I'm not the Prime Minister of Japan! Go visit Moon Disaster and come up with a new extravaganza~!"

"Sure, Grand Moff Vadous!"

"LEAVE IMMEDIATELY~!" The man, Vadous, yelled.

There was a giggling sound followed by footsteps rushing out of somewhere: Subaru engaged the Real Wave screen to display a man on his mid-20s having jet black hair and reddish eyes: he looked rather annoyed.

"Sorry for the bother, Subaru. Hmmm? Solo. I hope you don't try to do anything "indecent" to Subaru…" He sounded suspicious.

"I merely sit in front of the guy and look on." Solo shrugged.

"… As long as it doesn't go past that…"

"Any news on the trio, Boss?" Subaru asked.

"No. Hmmm? Email… Van der Miar…? Oh. He administers a recently inaugurated Netherlands private space lab… Maybe I'll introduce you to him one day… What? "Unidentified object detected by our radar in collision course towards a point 33km NNE of Kodama Town, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan… 33km NNE of Kodama Town…? Isn't that were you're at, Subaru?" Vadous read the email before asking.

"Correct, Boss."

"Look, Rock Man. Over there…"

Solo turned serious and signaled the sky: something was plunging through it while leaving a trail of smoke behind and seemed to head to point located close by.

"Whoa. A meteor…?"

"No… The radar signature is way too smooth. It's an artificially-made object…! Ten meters tall and five wide… Form of a diamond… Outer heat shielding…" Vadous read from the email.

"How much time is left until landfall?" Solo asked.

"… 2 minutes 33 seconds." Vadous replied.

"I guess it's better not to move from here. When that thing makes landfall, it'll be quite a shock." Subaru suggested.

"What? I wanna see it from close up!" War Rock looked impatient.

"Yeah. And be destroyed by the energy release?" Subaru dully told him without looking concerned.

"Uh. Then I step back." War Rock muttered.

"Coming…!" Solo muttered.

The object descended until it was out of sight and a loud crash sound rang out followed by a rush of heat: the air soon calmed down and both rushed on forward until they reached a clearing made by the object: some scales were jumping off it and it was emitting heat: it had driven into the ground, too, and remained in a perpendicular angle to the ground.

"Whoa." Subaru whistled in surprise.

"Hmpf… Looks worth my time…" Solo formed a smug smile.

"… My, my. If it ain't the famous Solo… I thought you worked alone yet it'd seem my info was a bit outdated. But who cares? No – one's perfect, not even me…" A manly voice rang out with a hint of amusement.

"Who goes there?" Solo demanded.

"Well… Guess it's time for my debut…"

The diamond ejected steam and the upper half began to displace upwards until it had expanded to reveal a two meter – tall compartment where an ellipsoid made of white energy was hovering inside of: it slowly hovered outside of the diamond structure.

"Is _aibou_ listening? I think he'll like this surprise."

"_Aibou_?" Subaru frowned.

"… That voice…!" Vadous suddenly muttered.

"Yeah. Been a while, _aibou_."

"No way!" Vadous gasped.

"Way."

The ellipsoid then dissolved to reveal the identity of the speaker: he had a humanoid shape and seemed to be around two meters tall.

Black armor made of an unknown material covered the whole of his body thus protecting him.

The helmet around his head lacked nose or mouth yet it had two cavities for the eyes which were plain red and lacking iris: but they seemed to be a decoration more than his real eyes, too.

His shoulders were plain and didn't have a spheroid form unlike most Wizards: he had elbows and the armor over the hands included two small dome-shaped objects with the Alphabet "T" character colored in rainbow colors drawn upon them.

The armor extended across his legs, being thicker around the knees and ended in ellipsoid segments protecting his feet: rainbow-colored lines travelled down their length.

The main body was absent of decoration save for a pattern drawing the same Alphabet "T" letter in the middle of the chest the colors of which were constantly shifting and mixing.

Lastly, four large and irregularly-shaped wings formed behind him: its colors were also constantly shifting, too.

"Heh, heh, heh… When was our last conversation? Ah. True, true. May, 2204. One week before the incident with Spade Magnets in Kodama Elementary… You were busy planning "Operation: Independence" to split free from Anaya Maria's iron grasp. And I know you succeeded, too. Yet I didn't feel like playing the nice guy, so that's why I left. I've bid my time and I've come up with a _scenario_ which will surprise you guys." The newcomer announced with obvious amusement.

"T-Tabuu…!" Vadous uttered.

"Taboo?" Both Subaru and Solo wondered.

"No. Write _taboo_ as _Katakana_."

"Tabuu… Ah. So his name should be read like it was a Japanese word and not an English word…" Subaru muttered.

"So! Hoshikawa Subaru! Solo! Weren't you itching for some action? I'm the action. Come!" Tabuu taunted.

"Oh yeah! Let's go, Subari~!" War Rock laughed.

"Jeez. Denpa – Henkan! Hoshikawa Subaru, On Air!"

"Hmpf. Denpa – Henkan… Solo, On Air!"

Subaru became Rock Man while Solo transformed into his Burai form: Laplace muttered something and morphed into the Laplace Blade.

"Let's go! Mad Vulcan X!"

"Laplace Swing!"

Rock Man's rounds bounced off Tabuu's armor without leaving a single scratch on it while Burai's attack didn't inflict any effect, either: both gasped in surprise.

"What?"

"Crap!" Vadous muttered.

"Regretting making this armor so powerful, _aibou_? But it's too late to regret, sadly enough!" Tabuu laughed.

"What? Boss made that armor?" Rock Man gasped.

"Long tale!" Vadous sentenced.

"We'll hear to it later, then." Burai muttered.

"How about you guys dance to the flute's tune?" Tabuu taunted.

"What?"

"Fate's Strings!"

Tabuu formed up five strings colored yellow at the edge of each of his fingers and they latched on each fighter's hands, feet and forehead: Tabuu then toyed with the strings and had both Rock Man and Burai collide head-on to then attack each other.

"Heh, heh, heh. I'm the puppeteer! So, _aibou_? Are ya gonna come out and blow me away?" Tabuu taunted.

"Sorry. But ya gotta deal with me firstly."

"Who…?"

"Me."

A reddish blur crossed through the air while cutting the strings and dragged both Rock Man and Burai until they landed in the crater's outer edge.

"My, my! Omega… I'd forgotten about you!"

"Hmpf. So it'd seem, Tab."

"… I never liked that nickname."

"Omega – san…!"

"Phew."

"Mwah, hah, hah, ha~h! This guy's gonna get butchered! Omega's the top-class butcher in 'ere!"

"Ga…"

Omega appealed as being over one meter and eighty tall.

The guy struck as being over one meter and eighty tall.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed calm and concentration while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.

He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

He also carried a pyramid-shaped emerald green saber weapon on his right hand which had white a trapeze base and hilt.

"Yeah. Me. Omega. I'll make you hear to the thirty-six bells of doom, Tab, before Ms. Moon comes tell you you're fired." Omega grinned.

"I guess I need to get serious, then. How's this like? Apocalypse…!"

Tabuu spread his wings, legs and arms wide and began to build up energy around his body: Omega gasped and looked nervous.

"Crap! Boss! The gateway! Open the gateway and get us outta here!"

A purple-colored gateway or "portal" formed behind the trio and Omega pushed both of them inside to then follow them: the gateway vanished while Tabuu kept on loading up energy: a red sphere was forming in front of him and was growing in size.

"… Now! Apocalypse Now!" He laughed.

The sphere suddenly stopped expanding to collapse upon itself and imploded: radial shockwave which burnt up trees, grass and anything else upon contact began to expand and covered a radius of about 300 meters before dying down: Tabuu laughed as he looked on.

"While you wait for that trio to show up… I'll be your new headache, Vadous! Heh, heh, heh. _Ladies and gentlemen: show's started_! Hah!"


	2. Chapter 2: Briefing

**Chapter 2: Briefing**

10:57 AM (Japan Time), Saturday August the 28th…

"… So? What exactly happened out there, Subaru?"

"Well… Dad… That's…"

"A jerk popped out of nowhere and proved to be immune to any attacks to then proceed to destroy the area… What a jerk!"

"Now… Cool it down, War Rock…"

"Go eat "Sweet Candy", Akatsuki!"

Subaru and his father, Daigo, were speaking as Subaru sat on a chair placed on a corner of the WAXA Command Room: Subaru looked depressed while War Rock was discussing with Shidou.

"Chief! Air Display request…" One operator called out.

"Patch it through." The Chief replied.

The "Air Display" turned on and displayed Vadous.

He wore body armor made of an unknown grayish compound material: some purple patterns were drawn around it.

He sported a ragged, torn and worn out purple cape attached to the back of his shoulders which spread all the way to the ground but had some centimeters' margin of space.

He lastly carried two elaborated sword sheaths attached to the thick central belt colored black running around his waist.

Vadous was currently sitting in a black metallic armchair and looked somewhat stressed: he sighed and cleared his throat.

"Well. You all see what happened to the forest. I need to explain what exactly transcended. The culprit behind this is an alien Wizard who is named Tabuu." Vadous headed straight to the point.

"Tabuu… And where did that guy come out from?" Shidou asked.

"He never told me. He holds the title of "Nomad Emissary" and he is a totally autonomous Wizard in charge of investigation and cataloguing of civilizations and planets. We met for the first time in March, 2202, when he stumbled upon the "Subspace" itself: the region of Time-Space containing a small solar system and where I built my home base. I welcomed him and after some data exchange we began to be able to understand each other. He was intrigued in my technology, so he decided to stick around. Seeing how he had trouble using his combat capabilities, I designed armor for him that would help him focus his power and freely use it." Vadous narrated.

"And what happened next?" Daigo asked.

"He investigated and researched upon my technology and he sometimes let out info of other planets he'd visited. Over two years later, back in April, 2204, I began to focus on what would be "Operation: Independence", the strategy to break free from Anaya Maria and to protect Subaru. The next month, May, Tabuu told me he was going to study one of my newest nuclear fusion reactors and I told him to go ahead. Two hours later, disaster struck." Vadous continued and made a slightly dramatic pause.

"Disaster struck?" Misora sounded surprised.

"The reactor blew up and Tabuu was destroyed together with the power plant: the Command Center lost 33% of its power supply and so did other systems. The only thing we could find amongst the debris was charred armor segments. The armor hadn't been designed to withstand such a brutally hot plasma spheroid. Surviving security footage and backup data revealed a flaw in the deuterium supply valve which meant that the deuterium and tritium mix were unbalanced. The unbalance led to collapse and blew up the reactor. We grieved his loss but then moved on. I made a small memorial service on that same day past May."

"But then… How did he survive?" Jack asked.

"Double…?" Subaru gasped.

"Guess so… I never kept it a secret that the "double" concept was a very popular one in _manga_ and _anime_…" Vadous admitted.

"And why would he do this? I mean… Why would he fool Boss and everyone into believing he died in an accident yet he then shows up to openly become our adversary?" Subaru asked.

"Maybe he wasn't in the "mood" to being one of the "good guys" and he decided to do that just to prove how intelligent he could be. But maybe another reason of why he's waited until this moment is because he's been plotting or arranging things…" Vadous sighed.

"Hum… Yet… Is there something which can actually damage that armor, Boss? You designed it, didn't you?" Subaru asked.

"Of course! I was pretty paranoid back then so I purposely designed one or two weak points to the armor. I have to look the schematics up again to check. But it can be broken."

"Heh! Then I'll go and slaughter the guy!" War Rock laughed and sliced the air with his claws.

"Cool it down, Rock…" Subaru muttered.

"Do we know why he had to make such a dramatic entrance? He could've just flown there or warped, right?" Shidou brought up.

"Dunno. Maybe he's fond of dramatics."

"Speaking of dramatics…" Jack brought up.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Wasn't there a guy who went around claiming he was the scriptwriter of a drama or something like that?" Jack frowned.

"Hyde? Bah. The guy must be trying to set up a drama in the Bahamas using wild chameleons…" Vadous shrugged.

"Ah. Sorry. It just came up to mind."

"Don't mind it."

"How would you measure Tabuu's level of power?" The Chief brought up as he rubbed his beard.

"Good point, Chief… Hmmm… He'd make those two imitators look pale in comparison and I'm sure he wouldn't have much trouble handling that Death Shadow guy." Vadous calculated.

"And that Death Shadow guy was enough of a nightmare for us even while he was a rookie who hadn't been around for even 12 hours yet he was able to drive us to the limit." Shidou grimly muttered.

"Tab likes tabbing!" Omega suddenly joked off-screen.

"Omega… This is serious."

"I know. But since Tab went back to his tabbing hobby then we can shake off some tension and tab a tabbing tab." He made up a rhyme.

"Your humor is way too Occidental." Vadous sentenced.

"I knew that, _shachou_~!" He sounded amused.

"You're not proving it. Flee."

"YIKES!" One operator yelped.

"Not again…" Shidou moaned.

"What's wrong?" Dr. Yoiri asked.

"A mouse-trap, ma'am…! Inside of the drawer…!"

"Omega… You've done it, haven't you?" Shidou sighed.

"What! Omega goes around placing mouse-traps on people's drawers, you say? OMEGA~! Don't flee, no! I'll show you!"

Vadous suddenly sat up from the armchair and ran off-screen: the hum of something rang out followed by quick footsteps, a door slamming open and another set of footsteps running down metallic ground.

"Omega – san… Why can't he be serious?" Subaru muttered.

"It'd be preferable if he was!" Misora muttered next.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah… Time for the cool man to show up onstage… Calling on Sigma~!"

Someone showed up on-screen.

This guy was about two meters tall and was colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area and it seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand which he was currently aiming at the floor in lazy manner.

"Yo! Subari~! Hoping ya won't get into an even greater mess set up by the thirty-six bells of doom? Ms. Moon is coming down to eat you up as _aperitif_!" Sigma laughed.

"Please, Sigma – san…" Subaru looked like he couldn't bear it anymore.

"Sigma….!" Someone grumbled.

"Yikes! Dr. Lartes!" Sigma gasped.

"Will you stop bullying Subaru?" Dr. Lartes annoyingly questioned.

"Eh… This is bullying?" Sigma asked.

"Yeah. Go bust Andromeda in the VR simulator." He commanded in an icy voice which was barely holding back his anger.

"Roger…"

"YIKES!" Another operator yelped.

"Not again…! Just how many mouse-traps are there in this building? And how could he set them up without us noticing?" Shidou began to question as he slapped his forehead.

"He sneaked inside using stealth camouflage…"

A man walked in-screen: he appealed as being around a meter and eighty tall and having Vadous' age as well.

His jet black hair had a style slightly reminiscent of Subaru's and his eyes' irises were brown in coloring.

His armor had the Alphabet "L" character drawn over the chest (and painted in purple coloring) and he also carried a sword sheath attached to the right side of his belt.

"Good morning, Master…" Subaru greeted.

"Morning. What a morning! Omega with his mouse-traps, Tabuu coming back to annoy us and Sigma bullying around… What have we done to deserve this chaos? And let's not speak of the cook, Dragon Hell, and his crazy recipes." Dr. Lartes grumbled.

"Totally crazy. I had a look at them and I can't understand how in the world he came up with them." Shidou agreed on it.

"'Cause he's always in "Confucius' world" and he barely pays attention to what goes on around him… He thinks he can overcome famous cooks but his attempts are ridiculous. And he lets Omega's parodies influence him all too much." He explained to the public.

"YIKES! A spider…! In the locker…!" Another operator reported.

"A spider, this time around…? Omega… He's been seeing too much lame Occidental humor…"

"… What's going on now, Lartes?" Vadous asked as he walked back in-screen while looking rather annoyed.

"Sigma was bullying Subaru and we've found out that Omega set a spider in a locker, too." Dr. Lartes summed up.

"A spider in the locker…! And what if it was poisonous? That ain't something to joke with!"

"What did you with him?"

"He ran away into the Cosmo Wave and the guy's surely gone to speak with Moon Disaster and come up with another extravaganza."

"Huff. No wonder."

"Moon Disaster is somewhat lunatic, too. Who the heck makes up 10-hour long extravaganzas? No – one! And who hears to them, anyway? They must fall in deaf ears."

"He surely comes up with a medley of remixed or original popular songs which show up in monthly charts…" Vadous fumed.

"I saw the guy's latest poll, too. Totally lame." Misora drily added as she lifted an eyebrow.

"Is that so?" Queen Tia asked as she popped out from behind her and lifting an eyebrow, too.

"Ah! Queen Tia – sensei, it's been a while, ma'am…" She nervously greeted as she glanced around the room.

"Queen Tia… What had we agreed upon?" Dr. Yoiri sighed.

"I'm only speaking." She replied.

"That sounds like a loophole." Shidou muttered.

"And you're going to say I'm a lawyer next?" She deduced.

"No, no…" He defended himself.

"Eh… neechan… I think that…" Jack timidly called out.

"It isn't your business, Jack." She coolly told him.

Jack shut up and looked at the ground while rolling his eyes: Subaru caught a glance of it and looked nervous.

_Queen Tia – sensei comes up with her weird manias regarding Misora – chan… Dr. Yoiri can keep at her at bay, though, somehow…_

"Oi! Sub! Your Hunter – VG's ringing!" War Rock laughed.

"Not you too, Rock…" Subaru sighed.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… I'm a genius, yessir!"

"Hello?" Subaru answered to the call and tried to look natural despite his obvious frustration.

"Subaru – kun! Are you alright?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, _iinchou_… Somehow…" He admitted.

"Phew! I saw the news about that devastation and got worried that something had happened to y… I mean, to Rock Man – sama! Eh… No! I mean… To both you and Rock Man – sama." She had to correct herself halfway through the sentence.

"Thanks. But I'm alright."

"Is Gonta over there?"

"Gonta? No."

"And he did say he had to go there… Jack! Haven't you seen him? Or he's stuffing his useless belly with needless food again?"

"Guess so." Jack shrugged.

"That guy…! He came 10 minutes late and now he has the guts to challenge my authority...! He better pray I don't pull his hair until he cries and acknowledges my commands…! I feel like going and coming up with a chemical to make his food tasteless…!" She hissed.

"Eh… But wouldn't that be food alteration?" Shidou brought up while looking worried.

"Huh! That's a crime?" She gasped and snapped outta it.

"Well. I'd rather say that's cheating…" He corrected.

"And it can be sanctioned by law?" She deduced.

"Yeah. A fine, if I'm not mistaken." He confirmed.

"A fine…! Huh! Then I'll simply have him mop the classroom each afternoon as disciplinary punishment!" She cleared her throat.

"I don't see any problem with that." Acid told her.

"Phew." Mode sighed in relief.

"Are you plotting something, Mode?"

"Eh? Me? No, Luna – chan! I'm just making you sure you don't do anything bad which could harm your reputation!" He replied.

"Ah! If it's just that…" She shrugged.

"Uo~h! Sorry, sorry, sorry~! I'm late~!"

Gonta rushed into the Command Center while being obviously out of breath: he leant on a column but he suddenly gasped.

"YIKES!"

"What now?" Acid asked in an exasperated tone of voice.

"A mouse-trap…! In the column…!" He admitted.

"That's the fourth!" Vadous grumbled.

"Hah! That's the price to pay for being a useless glutton!" Luna told him with a smug smile.

"Yikes! _Iinchou_…! Eh…" He trailed off.

"He wanted to mince the meat himself, the machine broke, he had to send it to be repaired, and called up a pizzeria to have a pizza delivered to him." Ox listed.

Luna got a twitch over her right eye and Gonta became pale again as he stepped back: he didn't seem to mind the mouse-trap anymore, even, and looked about to run for his life.

"YOU USELESS FATTY MORON! I'LL HAVE YOU CLEAN THE WHOLE INSTITUTE TO MAKE YOU SWEAT THOSE EXTRA KILOGRAMS AWAY FOREVER! AND DON'T DARE TO BE LATE AGAIN OR WE'LL DISCARD YOU LIKE A BROKEN SUIT! GET IT! HMPF!" She snapped at him.

The Real Wave screen abruptly shut down and the room remained silent: everyone except for Queen Tia looked rather surprised: all eyes were fixed on Gonta, who looked at Ox as if expecting some form of help from him.

"… Buro~! Later."

"W-wait!"

Ox warped out of the room and Gonta gasped.

"Eh… Hum… G-good morning…" He timidly muttered.

No – one spoke or moved from their current positions: Gonta suddenly yelled and ran away into the elevator: Queen Tia merely lifted the right eyebrow.

"… A fallen one…" She merely muttered.

"Oi, oi…" Shidou looked nervous.

"Poor Gonta…" Subaru muttered.

"He's had ill luck in life…" Misora muttered.

"He and Shirogane seem to cancel each other given her intelligence and his flaws." Vadous drily muttered.

"Ahem, ahem! Anyway! Tabuu is now going to be our first priority. He's bound to show up again: decided enemies don't wait long to strike at the first possible opportunity." The Chief cleared his throat.

"Sure… I'll begin using my HQ's scanning capabilities: I might be able to pick up any signatures if he's using a large device or machine. And I'll look up the schematics of the armor to check on how to disable the armor or destroy it." Vadous suggested a course of action.

"Then leave it up to War Rock – sama and his invincible claws! That guy will regret messing with me!" He laughed.

"That won't do, War Rock. You'll need more than brute force to be able to damage him at all." Vadous told him.

"Wha~t? Everyone's always looking down on me~!" He yelled.

No – one minded him, so War Rock fumed while Subaru sighed.

_Is there no end to the incarnations of "evil"…?_

"YIKES! A mouse-trap… Behind the screen!"

"The fifth already! Omega. You moron. Stop pulling these silly jokes!"


	3. Chapter 3: Alien tech

**Chapter 3: Alien tech**

17:38 PM (Japan Time), Saturday August the 28th …

"… Chief! Unknown radar signature… It's on a free fall course towards Kodama Town's square and descending at 3 km/s yet decelerating at the same time, sir!"

"What!"

"Tabuu…?"

"Has to be him…!"

"Chief! Should I…?"

"Wait. We need more info on what that object is."

"And there's no time before it lands: barely a minute left!"

Alarms had been triggered inside of the WAXA Command Room: one operator read info from a display, the Chief turned around from speaking with Dr. Yoiri and Shidou looked ready for action.

"Switch to "Air Display", operator!"

"Roger, sir!"

The "Air Display" revealed a 3D model of an object having a largely cylindrical form: eight navy blue spots were scattered over its four sides with a ninth one being set on the upper portion of it: the whole thing was about ten meters tall and had a ceramic shield set beneath it plus two parachutes slowing it down.

"Current speed: 940 m/s! Time until landing: 54 seconds!"

"Impossible to get there in time… But I want to be on the scene to check that thing out… Later! And tell Queen Tia that I don't want her to stalk Misora! See ya!" Shidou yelled as he ran off.

"Let's hope she listens…" The Chief grimly muttered.

"That child…" Dr. Yoiri sighed.

17:40 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Subaru! Oi! Hear this out!"

"What's wrong, dad?"

"An UFO has landed in the plaza! The FMs have come!"

"HUH? But the FMs don't need UFOs, dad!"

"Yeah! We don't need spaceships, Daigo!"

"Then what the heck is that thing which has come out of nowhere? A military experiment or what?"

"Oi! Subari~! The Hunter – VG!"

"Stop with that nickname already, will ya?"

Daigo had excitedly run inside of Subaru's room and he looked up from a textbook with a puzzled look: War Rock then signaled the Hunter – VG, which was ringing.

"Subaru!" Acid Ace called out.

"Akatsuki – san?" Subaru gasped.

"Did Tabuu's toy touch down?" He went straight to the point.

"Tabuu sent that?" Subaru asked as he stood up.

"It has to be the guy!" Acid Ace replied.

"I'd just heard the news from my dad, though…"

"Go into the plaza and check it out! I'm on my way here through the Cosmo Wave!" He commanded.

"YO, YO, YO! Acid Disaster! Wanna check out my new poll?" Moon Disaster called out.

"No time for that, Moon Disaster! Satella Police Mission! Make way for the Super Hero!" Acid Ace ordered.

"YO, YO, YO!"

"I'm off, dad!" Subaru announced as he ran off.

"Eh… Be careful!"

"Of course!"

He exited his home and crossed the street through the pedestrian crossing until he reached a cordon set up by Satella Police Wizards keeping the curious at bay: Subaru hid behind some trees and looked at the object, which was standing inert in the middle of the plaza.

"Let's go, Rock!" He whispered.

"Yessir!"

"Denpa – Henkan! Hoshikawa Subaru, On Air!" He muttered.

He became Rock Man and immediately felt a hand land on his right shoulder from behind: Harp Note was there.

"Subaru – kun! There was something interesting going on and you didn't call me?" She grinned.

"Eh… But Akatsuki – san just told me a minute ago, so…"

"I happened to be on my way to your house but it'd seem this will be interesting." She giggled.

"Yo! Sorry for the delay." Acid Ace told them as he ran up to meet them and stopped to pant.

"Akatsuki – san!" Both greeted.

"Let's examine that thing from up close." Acid Ace commanded.

They ran into the square, to the surprise of the curious, and the Satella Police Wizards automatically let them through: they then examined the object from close up.

"It's very hot. It has to have dropped from outside the atmosphere and then slowed down using the shield and the parachutes. A somewhat crude system yet it worked for NAXA during a lot of years…" Acid Ace deduced as he looked at it.

"_Ladies and gentlemen_! Good afternoon. My name is Mr. Universe. I'm about to start up a show. The Terror and Fear Show, I name it. And ya will see why. One warning: it ain't recommended for minors of 11 years. If ya have monster-phobia then return to your home and hide under the blankets with your lucky charm." Tabuu's amused voice rang out of nowhere in particular.

"You heard the mister, Shin! Back home!"

"No, mom! I wanna see~!"

"Let's go, Haruka!"

"But, mom!"

Some children were dragged off the square by their parents while the ones older than 10 or 11 along with other adults stayed.

"Well then… Let us start. Lights, camera, action! _Rock 'n roll_! I treat to my new invention: the Acid Harp Rock cocktail!"

"What the… That's so silly. Omega must've had plenty of time to pass his crazy humor into the guy." Acid Ace cursed.

The cylinder emitted some humming sounds and then some tubes began to emerge from its structure: each one was easily two meters tall and was built using transparent glass to showcase the printed circuitry boards inside of them: electricity was travelling through them and drawing patterns across their surfaces: they began to glow in a sequence and the humming sound increased in volume.

"What? A magical light show…?" Acid Ace wondered.

A circle was drawn around the square and some hexagons of distorted and mixed colors began to form while accumulating and increasing in density and height: they eventually formed a complete dome which encompassed the whole square and abruptly cut Wave Roads off: the Denpa – kuns going through them were unable to enter or leave: all coloring inside of the dome became mixed at random thus creating a hallucination-like effect.

"Whoa! This thing… It looks like the RW Shield we had in the WAXA building… Remember, the one the War Rock copies blew up…" Acid Ace muttered with obvious surprise.

"And it seems to perfectly cut us off from the outside environment given how the Denpa – kuns are unable to come out, too…" Harp Note deduced by looking around.

"Tabuu… What is he intending to do?" Rock Man wondered.

"Ho, ho, ho, ho… I'll burn you lowlifes to cinders…"

"De a~ru… Enemy sighted… Preparing for torpedo launch, de a~ru…"

"Fu – ru – ru! Let's go!"

"Meet some new faces, Raid Troop… The "Darkloids" have returned to haunt you!" Tabuu laughed.

"What!"

Three enemies suddenly formed inside of the space and faced each one of the Raid Troop members.

"Ho, ho, ho… I'm Blast Man. Burn!"

Blast Man seemed to be around a meter and eighty tall while his main body color was red and metallic gray.

His eyes were tinted black while his mouth's interior was colored red: he had no nose.

His head included a rectangle-shaped piece extending towards the rear colored red and with four vertical and thin heat exhausts placed on each side of it: his face was painted black and set within a gray metallic rim running down the sides of it and going over the chin.

His legs and feet had red armor on them: his feet had a ramp-like shape and ended in two layers of gray metallic soils: a thin vertical yellow stripe was placed over the spot where the middle fingers would be at: his knees had hexagons placed over them with three golden-colored stripes similar to heat exhausts on them.

His upper body had an oven-like shape with three heat exhausts set on his chest: the lower body and legs above the knee didn't have any armor on them and were colored black.

His shoulders had two pieces of armor shaped like whistles having a small golden-colored dome: his forearms had red armor over them while his arms and hands' skin was colored black.

Overall, he looked strong and agile.

"De a~ru… Captain Dive Man, ready for immersion and combat engagement… De a~ru…"

Dive Man was a "Darkloid" standing over a meter and seventy tall-

His head was shaped like a submarine's "sail", including a periscope and two diving planes plus the ear-pads: his face was set on the front of it and consisted in just the eyes and the mouth: he held a pipe on his mouth which emitted smoke like a real one.

His upper torso was shaped like a submarine which covered the body until the waist: his forearms also had fins on them while his hands were covered in the typical white skin.

His legs ended up in circle-shaped metallic objects painted navy blue plus two capsule-like objects covering them below the knees: each "capsule" had a fin facing outwards.

The legs over the knees were colored black.

Overall, he looked like a combination between a submarine and a veteran sailor.

"Fu – ru – ru! Circus Man is gonna tame 'em! No – one can escape from my hands! Fu – ru – ru!"

The last of them, Circus Man, had a clown-like shape and looked about a meter and sixty tall.

His face was a clown's face: his eyes were shaped like blue stars; he had a red nose and wide lips while his "skin" was colored white.

A golden arch was drawn around the face together with a round spot on the forehead: he sported a clown's cap with two yellowish spheres attached to the ends of the cap.

Curiously enough, he had _four_ hands which had a dome-shaped yellow extension past the wrist, red armlets and white gloves: another two dome-shaped spots colored in a brownish color were set where the shoulders would be at.

He had a vertical stripes shirt with green vertical stripes colored either green or deep green: two round white buttons were set on the middle.

His body was big and fatty: he sported black-colored pants below the shirt plus reddish shoes having a stripe around the part where the feet's fingers should start at: the stripe was colored brown and had yellow triangles drawn on it aiming upwards: his emblem was placed below the shirt.

"… "Darkloids"…! Like when our expedition into Zenay III where that _daimaou_ man was at…!" Rock Man muttered.

"No good! There are a lot of bystanders here. If we don't make sure to contain their attacks, then this is gonna become manslaughter!" Acid Ace whispered.

"That Tabuu…!" Harp Note cursed.

"_Ready… Go_!" Tabuu commanded.

"Ho, ho, ho. Blast Storm!"

"De a~ru… Smart Missile!"

"Fu – ru – ru! Let's go!"

"Huh! Battle Card, Piranha Kiss X!"

"Battle Card, Flash Spear X!"

"Battle Card, Break Saber… What!"

Blast Man shone and then formed three small blasts of fire which he shot towards Rock Man.

"Take this!"

Several piranhas came out from beneath the ground and hit Blast Man: Acid Ace jumped towards Dive Man while dodging two missiles but he "dived" into the earth: Harp Note had been about to attack Circus Man with a Break Saber when he warped and transformed into a tent which dropped around Harp Note: sounds and signs of a scuffle rang out.

"You pervert!" Harp Note cursed.

"Uh-oh." Both muttered.

"Uo~h!"

A gash opened in the tent and Harp Note ran out while panting and looking annoyed, for once: Rock Man was attacking Blast Man with the Drill Arm X Battle Card to keep him busy and Acid Ace was trying to find a way to attack Dive Man even though the only thing visible was the periscope: Circus Man reformed into his normal shape but then got attacked by Harp Note.

"You lowlife~! Blast Swirl!"

"De a~ru… Dive Bomb!"

"Fu – ru – ru! Fire Ring!"

Blast Man shot a swirl formed of incandescent flames towards Rock Man: Dive Man emerged, opened his chest compartment and threw some bombs at Acid Ace while Circus Man formed a "fire ring" like in the circuses plus some lion-shaped Viruses: Harp Note cut through them and hit Circus Man, stunning him.

"Get ready! Access Meteor Server, Level 3!"

Energy built up around Harp Note but her form didn't change in a notable way except for the reddish aura which glowed around her: she formed a grin.

"Good! Hammer Weapon X! Take this!"

"Happy…!"

The shockwave from the Hammer Weapon X stunned Circus Man and Harp Not then formed a smug smile.

"Black End… Galaxy!"

"Wha~!"

"Whoa!"

The Black End Galaxy was more than enough to destroy Circus Man (who went out with a bang) and stun the other two "Darkloids": Harp Note jumped in front of Dive Man and breathed before exhaling.

"There's more! Thunderbolt Blade!"

"DE A~RU!"

The two hits combined with the thunderbolt raining down from above were sufficient to make him explode, too: she didn't waste a second and landed in front of Blast Man.

"Last one! Dynamic Wave!"

She spun upon her axis and made four tall waves hit Blast Man in a row before he blew up as well while roaring in agony.

"That's what happens for picking on a girl!" She exclaimed.

The public clapped and she gulped before turning around and making a polite reverence: Rock Man and Acid Ace followed suit.

"My, my… Not bad for the opening act… Maybe this will be funnier than I thought… Our _sacred maiden_ is proving to have teeth…" Tabuu sounded amused.

"What _sacred maiden_? That's a stupid repetitive title!" Harp Note didn't sound amused in the least.

"Who knows?" He joked.

"Ya do." Harp Note sentenced.

"Tabuu! What are you plotting next?" Rock Man demanded.

"Maybe a large - scale show?" He teased.

"This is a show? You're nuts or what?" Acid Ace demanded.

"Nuts? Ah. Crazy, you mean to say? No. I am perfectly sane. I just happen to be somewhat similar to Hyde: I am a scriptwriter, too. But I don't control reality: I just happen to make it less dull than it usually is. Heh, heh, heh…" Tabuu chuckled.

"What's this technology, anyway?" Rock Man questioned.

"Heh! "Dimensional Converters" and "Dimensional Area"… Ask the details to _aibou_ once the battery runs off in 1 minute 19 seconds and counting down… Heh, heh, heh… See ya tomorrow at early morning!"

"I guess he's left." Harp Note deduced.

"Since this thing is gonna shut down alone, then let's wait and then we'll go to WAXA to go over this." Acid Ace shrugged.

"Roger." Rock Man acknowledged.

"B-B-B-Bertie~! Dance to the tune of my flute~!" War Rock suddenly laughed.

"Very funny." He drily countered.

"Pororon! As always… Doing stupid stuff!" Harp muttered.

"Wha~t? The one who does stupid stuff is Gonta!" War Rock protested with some annoyance.

"Playing victim won't help you." Acid Ace sighed.

"Look who's talking! Why didn't ya come help us after the Grave Joker stuff, huh?" War Rock questioned.

"I was almost dead. I had to stay put. And so was Acid. I tried to tend the wounds myself but they were too grave, so I had to give up and show up in WAXA… Dr. Yoiri and Queen Tia treated them. And Dr. Yoiri had me go through a diet of the stone ages." Acid Ace related with some sarcasm.

_Tabuu… What's your goal? I'll foil anything which harms others!_


	4. Chapter 4: Invaders

**Chapter 4: Invaders**

09:09 AM (Japan Time), Sunday August the 29th…

"… Chief! Multiple large-scale energy signatures detected in orbit around Earth! 20 plus an even bigger one…! They seem to be some kind of space-ships!"

"What!"

"Tabuu again… "

"Yessir! I'm gonna go for a nostalgic approach today."

"Air Display…!"

Alarms went off again in the WAXA Command Center and everyone began to move up down before an "Air Display" of Tabuu showed up: it displayed a close-up of his torso, neck, and helmet and gave off a creepy vibe: he sounded rather amused.

"Ya know… Ya have pretty common language for an alien." Shidou pointed out with a hint of sarcasm.

"Ain't it obvious? I spent over two years with _aibou_, and had ample time to process speaking manners and forms… But my little tale can wait or it will fall upon deafened ears: isn't there a law limiting the amount of dB an alarm can make?" He sarcastically asked.

"None as far as I know." Acid quickly replied.

"Oho. Lawyer Man strikes back with a vengeance."

"I am not a lawyer!" Acid annoyingly countered.

"Oho. The guests are on their way down there. Have a look at the mightiness of my _Imperial Fleet…_ My, my! I was forgetting the necessary BGM. There you go: _Imperial March_!"

A melody based on drums began to ring out while the "Air Display" shifted to display a tactical map showing twenty yellow-colored arrows in four rows of five plus a large red arrow at the very front.

"Live feed, courtesy of Moon Ace!" Tabuu announced.

"YO, YO, YO! Yessir! Thrilling thrill of thrills!"

"Not again…!" Shidou groaned.

The live feed displayed some gigantic spaceships colored metallic gray: their main bodies were shaped like elongated bullets.

A ramp emerged from close to the southern edge: a bullet-shaped structure was built atop it while the engines were placed on the very rear: four large rectangular openings were built running down the sides of each ship.

The main ship or mother ship was notably larger than the other twenty ships and it was visible by the fact that it had ten hangar openings instead of eight.

"Behold! The UFO invasion!" Tabuu laughed.

The hangar doors opened and some UFO-shaped spaceships flew out accompanied by small fighter-model spaceships.

The fighter-model spaceships were barely five meters and length and very simplistic: they had a main spheroid body and two attached hexagonal radiator panels which acted as wings: the engine was built on the rear part of the spheroid: ten of them escorted each UFO.

The UFOs seemed to be some tens of meters wide: they had a round base and a dome shape with a small dome which appeared to be the cockpit built atop the main body: four closed oval hatches were built on the SW, SE, NW and NE angles of them.

"These UFOs carry invaders! And guess where they're headed to, Acid Disaster!" Tabuu teased.

"Grfjtx! I ain't Acid Disaster and these things must be headed towards here or other spots!"

"Yessir. So, enjoy… While you're still alive…"

Tabuu laughed and the display shut off while Shidou cursed…

09:49 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Huff… Huff…! We made it on time, it'd seem!"

"That Tabuu…! Making me sweat…! He's gotta be a pervert!"

"Uh… Guess so…"

"I'm glad you're here. We'll need all firepower to deal with whatever is inside of those UFOs."

"One of them is about to land here. You can see it coming close and we can't attack them: their escorts have deleted all Battle Wizards we've sent to try."

"Hah! Let them come: War Rock – sama is gonna smash them until only grinded dust is left!"

"Pororon! Focus on surviving."

"Yo! Sorry for the delay."

"Ah! Blood Shadow!"

"Heh! Brad Shad came!"

"Jeez! War Rock!"

Rock Man and Harp Note made it to WAXA's outer yard and Acid Ace came out to greet them: a fourth person came in and got trolled by War Rock: Rock Man rolled his eyes under his shades while Harp Note and Acid Ace sighed in defeat.

"I'm Blood Shadow and not that "Brad Shad" guy! When will you stop using that silly nickname on me, War Rock? Jeez! Everyone seems to want to bully me!"

Blood Shadow looked rather similar to Rock Man but with several design alternations to him: his main color of choice was red.

He sported black shades and a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red.

It was coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

"Who knows, Bloody Shadowy~?" He teased.

"Coming!" Acid Ace warned.

One of the UFOs reduced speed and hovered about ten centimeters above the ground as Real Wave ramps formed beneath each opening and the doors slowly opened.

"… Hover tanks, P – 001 series robots…" Blood Shadow suddenly muttered.

"Huh? Hover tanks and robots…? How…?" Acid Ace began.

"Look!" Rock Man gasped.

In effect: M1 tanks missing the caterpillar threads but having modern engines instead rolled out: there seemed to be about ten of them coming out of each ramp: they deployed in a circle formation with their guns aiming to cover the whole area including the mountains surrounding them.

"Whoa!" Harp Note whistled in surprise.

They were followed by humanoid-shaped robots colored in shades of blue and measuring about a meter and seventy: their heads only had a red LED on the center of them and their right harms had built – in machineguns thus making them look simple and fragile.

"I think there's about eighty of them going down each ramp! What a huge amount of them!" Acid Ace muttered.

The ship finished unloading and hovered skywards while the ten fighter spaceships formed a circle while aiming inwards.

"Coming…!" Blood Shadow warned.

"Here we go~!" Acid Ace grinned.

"Battle Card, Fire Slash!"

"Battle Card, Wood Slash!"

"Wing Blade!"

"Charged shotgun shot!"

The four of them began shooting at the robots and easily blew up several of them before the M1 tanks began a bombardment of the area, opening craters and hitting the WAXA building, too.

"No good! Blood! How can we destroy the tanks?" Rock Man asked him as he cut two robots in half.

"Shoot inside of their cannons!" Blood Shadow replied as he blew up a robot's head.

"Roger! Battle Card, Mini Grenade! Eat this!"

Rock Man threw it inside of a M1 tank's gun and it blew up from the inside thus leaving it unable to properly work.

"Be glad it's just _one_ carrier ship." Blood Shadow drily told them.

"Why?" Harp Note asked.

"Because we'd stood no chance if we had to deal with all of them one after the other without sufficient breaks… And if it's hard enough dealing with 40 tanks you can't imagine how harder it's gotta be dealing with higher numbers." Blood Shadow explained.

"But, then again… How do you know the numbers?" Acid Ace asked as he tossed a Mini Grenade inside of another tank.

"Boss showed me the files."

"Wait! Does this mean that this is…?" Rock Man gasped.

"Boss' former spatial army, yeah…"

"Whoa!"

"He used them in Middle East and Africa conflicts years ago."

"Yeah. And I'd turned the whole of it into recycled scrap by now but Tabuu has recreated it. He must've have had a huge number of factories and Wizards to do this in just one year and three months." Vadous admitted with a sigh over the radio.

"So… What's the total?" Acid Ace asked.

"Are you sure you're not going to faint?" Vadous asked.

"No."

"I warned you." Vadous reminded him.

"Go ahead."

"The total number of enemies which have been unloaded in the yard is 320 soldiers and 40 tanks. _Each_ carrier has _four cargo bays_, and _one_ cargo bay has a _max capacity_ of _80 soldiers and 10 tanks_. You must _multiply the max capacity of one cargo bay per four to find out the max capacity of one carrier ship…_" Vadous began.

"320 soldiers and 40 tanks…! And that's just _one_ ship!" Acid Ace sounded terrified.

"That's why I warned you." Vadous sighed.

"By all the… But… How many UFOs can a spaceship carry?" Harp Note asked.

"Well… _Each orbital ship_ carries _eight_ of those _carriers_, so… They carry a total of _2.560 soldiers and 320 tanks_ plus_ 80_ fighter-model escort automated ships…" Vadous listed.

"B-by all the…!" Acid Ace gasped.

"It gets worse. The _fleet_ has _20_ of those orbital ships, so if you _multiply those numbers by 20_…" Vadous kept on saying.

"I think I'm about to faint, even…"

"… You get a total of _160 carriers_ and _1.600 fighters_! And _121.200 soldier units_ _plus 6.400 tanks_…"

"It's getting worse, true." Harp Note grimly commented.

"… Wait. The _flagship_ carries _20 drop-ships_, _200 fighters_, _6.400 soldiers_ and a total of _800 tanks_…"

"Bring me a pill for the headaches…" Acid Ace grimly muttered.

"… So, if you _sum up the orbital ships plus the flagship_, you get _21 orbital ships_, _180 carriers _and _1.800 fighters_. Total numbering: _127.600 soldiers_ and _7.200 tanks_." He finished with a large sigh.

"Alright. I just fainted." Acid Ace sarcastically announced.

"Shidou…" Acid didn't find it funny.

"YO, YO, YO! Moon Cutters!"

Moon Disaster dropped down in the middle of the fray and spun towards the right while shooting his "Moon Cutters" at the enemies: he then swept towards the left while delivering some kicks and then dropping down from above to kick another robot's head.

"Is there anything we can do to stop the rest of the ships from landing in Earth?" Acid Ace asked.

"I'm on it. I'm using the weapons on my HQ, the Energy Spears, to shoot the engines and energy cores of the orbital ships. If they blow up, all troops get blown up, too, and we lower the amount of ships which can get down to the surface. Insofar, out of 180, only 10 have made it to the surface with another 20 on their way there. I hope to intercept them. And the amount of intercepted ships ascends to 95, too. The fighter-model ships have tried attacking me but my energy shield is too strong for them to break through and we can bounce the lasers off." Vadous explained to them while sounding somewhat satisfied.

"Good! Tabuu's efforts will have been in vain."

"Sure! The guy's outdated!"

"Fu, hah, hah, ha~h! A useless struggle leading up to heroic deaths! It couldn't have been better! My drama is perfect! This time around Rock Man will die!" A familiar voice rang out.

"No way…" Rock Man groaned.

"That guy…?" Harp Note cursed.

"Crap." Acid Ace cursed.

Phantom Black suddenly showed up atop the UFO and looked down on them (literally) while grinning.

"I don't know who this Tabuu man is but he has good resources! I'll just take profit of his setup. I'll have the Ace Program and then become invincible!" He laughed.

"Try battling your own "R" version first, you script jerk!" War Rock taunted him with a grin.

"Wha~t? Why, you…! Die! Phantom…!"

"Not so fast, Phantom."

BLAM!

"UGAH!"

Phantom Black fell into the ground while Blood Shadow appeared on the spot he'd been at: his shotgun's barrels were smoking and Phantom Black had a large charring mark on the back of his body which had opened a hole on his silk cloak.

"You lowlife…! Rock Man's spin-off…!"

"Yeah. Blood Shadow. You're weak, Phantom. And we don't have time to waste with you. Go to Alaska and deliver a speech to the penguins there or go set up a theater in Africa." Blood Shadow scoffed.

"You lowlife… Phantom Slash!"

Phantom Black recovered and began to spin upon his axis to create a tornado-like effect.

"Hmpf."

Blood Shadow merely brought his shield up and deflected all hits back at him: he then placed the shotgun into Phantom Black's chest.

"Charged shotgun shot!"

"UWO~H!"

The blast propelled Phantom Black across the air and he collided with one of the steel structures built around the WAXA building: he groaned and dropped into the ground to then try to stand up in vain.

"You lowlifes…! One day…! I'll destroy you…! Farewell!"

He managed to run towards the Wave Station and quickly climbed up the Wave Roads until the Cosmo Wave entrance: the group shrugged and kept on fighting the enemies.

"Any progress, Boss?" Blood Shadow asked.

"Yeah. The other available Denpa – Henkan users are taking care of another two ships: I've supplied them with abundant Recovery Battle Cards so that they can get ready for the next wave. And I've blown out a total of 138 ships by now: only 10 have reached the surface and another 32 are still awaiting exit." Vadous reported.

"Good. By the way… Do you think that Tabuu was most likely seeing to make a display of might than actually winning?"

"Could be… He must try to stir up my repressed memories and anger me to plunge into a trap…" Vadous admitted.

"Heh! Trap-Destroyer War Rock – sama will deal with them! Bring it on, angel parody jerk! I'll make mincemeat outta ya!"

"And how do you plan on getting through the armor? Illuminate me, War Rock." Rock Man questioned with obvious skepticism.

"Easy! Breaker – Type Battle Cards, Subari~!"

"That won't do. It's too thick." Vadous replied.

"Wha~t? But were ya crazy or what? Why build such a powerful armor to begin with?" War Rock grumbled.

"The grace of it is that it contains a lot of circuitry and devices which help him channel out his power… And to make sure they were unaffected by exposition to space and attacks, I had no other choice but to build using a special compound!" Vadous argued back.

"Why are ya guys always making me look like an idiot?" War Rock cursed.

"We don't intend to, War Rock. It's you who try to play the cool guy without thinking it twice." Vadous sighed.

"Totally." Jack added.

"Wha~t? Jackie~ is also in the club?"

"Stop with that nickname!" Jack grumbled.

"Jack! Behave!" Queen Tia commanded.

"Uh! Y-yeah, neechan…" He gasped.

"Good news… Only 12 ships left to blow up over here… And I've gotten news that out of 10 ships on the ground, the crew of 8 of them has been decimated. I'll give out a hand once I'm done with the orbiting ships in a few minutes… How's it going over there?" Vadous reported next.

"Hmmm… About 80% of the crew and weapons have been decimated…"

"Perfect. We can then take a break and relax."

"Well. I'll try something risky. Please step back. Access Meteor Server, Level 8… Finalize! Black Ace! Black End… Galaxy!" Rock Man announced.

"Go!" Acid Ace encouraged.

He morphed into Black Ace and the Black End Galaxy attack swept the ground with the remaining enemies plus the UFO standing on it: the shockwave over-killed them and Rock Man then landed back on the ground: nothing but debris and scrap was left of them.

"Phew. We did it, somehow…! This battle was hard!"


	5. Chapter 5: Tiredness

**Chapter 5: Tiredness**

10:41 AM (Japan Time), Sunday August the 28th…

"… Status report: 4 drop-ships left on surface. I'm going to bombard them, so you can clear the fighters allocated there."

"Roger."

"Black Ace! Lock on target… Cannons #1 and #4 at 50% capacity… Check out the IFF radar…"

"No "friendly" contacts detected…"

"Good! Fire!"

"Roger."

Most of the Denpa – Henkan users (Subaru, Misora, Shidou, Utagai Shinsuke, Moon Disaster, Ogami Juurou, Blood Shadow and Sigma) were gathered around the Command Room's "Air Display" table and watching Vadous' display as he seemed to type into something out of view from the display.

"Good! Like this…! 3 left! Cannons #2 and #3 to 30% capacity… Check out the IFF radar!" Vadous commanded.

"No "friendly signatures picked up…" An auto-voice replied.

"Fire~!" Vadous yelled.

"Fire the firing fires!" Someone added.

"Roger."

"Omega! How many trillion times do I have to tell you not to sneak up from behind?" Vadous grumbled.

"2 left by now, right?" Omega brought up.

"Yeah. We'll settle this…"

"Yo! Black Ace! Turn 'em into dust! Cannons #5 and #7 to 40% capacity: _rock 'n roll_!" Omega told the computer.

"Roger."

"O-oi! Wait! Emergency order! Check out the IFF radar!" Vadous gasped and intercepted the order.

"No "friendly" spots picked up from appoint area…"

"_Rock 'n roll_!"

"Roger."

"You reprogrammed its voice and order recognition patterns, didn't you, Omega?" Vadous grumbled.

"Yeah. It's funnier!" Omega giggled.

"I don't see the fun on that. Get lost." Vadous fumed.

"1 left! Let's go for the grand finale! Emergency order! Cannon #0 at 100% power once we make sure we've got no – one down there~!" Omega announced.

"W-wait! Cancel! Cancellation!" Vadous gasped.

"No friendly spots detected. Loading time: 1 minute 28 seconds… Locked on target…" Black Ace calmly announced.

"Didn't you hear me? Override code: Charon!"

"Invalid code."

"Omega! How dare you change the override code…? Fix it back right here and now!" Vadous hissed.

"Too late, _shachou_~! _Bye_~!"

"By all the… Wait there!"

Vadous disappeared from the screen and could be heard running after Omega while everyone seemed to have become tense.

"Loading time: 46 seconds."

"OMEGA~!" Vadous roared.

"Catch me, Bossy~!" Omega giggled.

"STOP ACTING LIKE A GNAT! HAND THE CODE OVER!"

"Guess it first!"

"THIS IS AN ORDER! AN ORDER! HAND – IT – OVER!"

"Loading time: 32 seconds."

"Here!"

"Che!"

There was the muffled sound of something metallic hitting the floor and then a string of curses.

"This is Chinese! I can't read Chinese! Omega! Come translate this right here and now!" Vadous cursed next.

"Loading time: 16 seconds."

"Che! I'll have to try!" Vadous scoffed.

He came back onscreen and quickly looked at a metallic object before forming a grimace.

"10… 9… 8…"

"… Ah! Mars Warrior!"

"… Override code accept. Loading aborted. Energy returned to main supply system." Black Ace reported.

"Phew. A bit more and we'd have an 800-meter wide crater form in that spot…! And there are buildings close by, too…! Omega…! He knew the consequences and still tried to go for it…! Cannons #6 and #8 at 45% capacity! Fire at will!" Vadous muttered before issuing a new order to the computer.

"Roger."

"Phew! We're finally done. What a morning! Bothersome Tabuu: bringing trouble where he goes to!" Vadous grumbled.

10:52 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Phew… Back home… I feel blown out!"

"How unlike you."

"Huh? E~H?"

"Been waiting…"

"Don't you ever get tired? Didn't you fight half a UFO's contents before Sigma – san helped you?"

"Heh! We're gonna have fun."

"Go tell Ox why you're better than him."

"Oh yeah! Here I go~!"

"Hmpf. So you don't need witnesses?"

"No."

"Heh. That attempt at being serious amuses me, Hoshikawa."

"Yeah? I thought you were the hostile and serious guy… Have you checked that there's nothing dangerous roaming in the hallways of the Mu continent? We don't wanna wake up yet another Kurayami… Do we, Solo?"

Subaru had gotten to his home only to find Solo sitting on the living room's sofa and browsing through the TV with a smug smile on his face, to his utter disbelief: War Rock looked amused but Subaru came up with a pretext to shoo him away.

"I didn't come to see your reactions today. I want info." Solo told him as he switched off the TV.

"Info… On Tabuu?" Subaru deduced.

"Yeah. What is he?" Solo questioned.

"An alien Wizard… He used to work with Boss but then faked his death to be able to play the bad guy…"

"Hmpf. And what's with that armor?"

"Boss built up to help him focus his powers and use them more easily: he's still trying to find the files regarding its composition and the weak points of it, so…" Subaru continued.

"So that's how it is. Fine. Not bad, though. This home, I mean."

"You didn't live in a home?" Subaru asked.

"I did. But my guardians died when I was a kid and I had to handle it on my own." He shrugged.

"… Maybe I shouldn't have brought that up…" Subaru muttered.

"Anyway… I heard that Phantom Black showed up. That jerk… Where does the come from?" Solo asked.

"Dunno. But he's so pathetic that there's no point in bothering to think about the guy…" Subaru shrugged.

"Hmpf. Yeah. But I still want the guy to pay for his cowardly act: stealing the OOPArt while you and I were exhausted and then taking all the glory for his useless hide." Solo fumed.

"Yeah. Go ahead." Subaru encouraged.

"But you have a point regarding the Mu Continent… I should go have another inspection of it just in case. There might be artifacts which could be misused." Solo muttered as he stood up.

"By the way… Is there anything left outta Ra Mu?"

"Several segments scattered around the central portion… And the Dinosaur OOPArt, too." Solo replied.

"Huh… Let's leave it there: it's gotta be out of power by now." Rock Man suggested.

"Sure. Later. And next time I'll study you." Solo formed a broad grin on his face.

"Crap."

He exited the house and Subaru sat down on the sofa while sighing in defeat and looking at the ground.

"Lovely. Totally." He grimly muttered.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h! Bertie~! Your worst nightmare is here: the pink press reporter!"

"War Rock… Not you too…"

War Rock showed up and tried to make a scary face to impress Subaru: he was unimpressed and War Rock shrugged.

"So? Solo's your new choice, Subari~?" He teased.

"No. And stop making up silly pairings like in anime forums. Go beat 50 Viruses in a row." Subaru snapped at him.

"Don't be so gloomy, man! Think of Futaba and ya will find energies to fight 3 times the troops we fought a while ago!"

"That's a misconception. And it's my private stuff, too. So don't butt into it and go do something useful." Subaru began to sound annoyed.

"Bringing _iinchou_ over and having her question on Rock Man – sama's favorite _bento_ meals?" War Rock laughed.

"No. Don't involve anyone on this. Get lost." Subaru commanded as he looked up with an annoyed face.

"In Alaska?" War Rock asked while lifting his eyebrows.

"Whatever!" Subaru growled.

"Anger Man showed up."

"No. Get out!"

War Rock flew out while laughing and Subaru headed for the fridge: he picked a bottle of cold water and served some in a plastic cup to slowly drink it up: he sighed.

_Why do they always insist on this topic…?_

11:03 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Oh. By all the… Not again…"

"WHY, YOU~! EMERGENCY LIGHTING! TURN ON THE GENERATOR! BRING ME THE ELECTRICIAN'S HEAD IN A SILVER PLATTER!"

Misora had been working on a lyric inside of her room when all lights went out and Mamorou roared.

"Pororon! Why a silver platter?" Harp asked.

"I think it's an ancient motto… And silver used to signify wealth and luxury…" Misora shrugged.

The emergency lighting came in and Misora suddenly frowned: she looked around but didn't spot anything out of the ordinary.

"… Harp. Can you pick any heat signatures like mine?" She asked her while looking suspicious.

"Pororon! Yeah. Behind the dresses…" Harp confirmed.

"Yikes!" Someone gasped.

"Who goes there?" Misora demanded.

"… A w-wandering s-soul…!" The voice uttered.

"… I know that voice from somewhere…" She sounded suspicious.

"Misora? Is everything alright?" Mamorou asked as he knocked on the door from the outside.

"Not really. There's someone here who sneaked inside during the blackout, Urakata – san." She reported.

"WHAT?"

Mamorou rushed in and pulled a studios' staff man who had a Hunter – VG on his hands: he looked on his early 20s and had short black hair and brown eyes while sporting reading glasses.

"You don't work here." Mamorou announced.

"Eh… I do, I do!"

"No, you don't. I know everyone from memory. Do you recognize him, Misora?" Mamorou countered.

"No, sir. I don't, sir." She replied.

"I think the police will find out who you are but I suspect you're our saboteur and a pervert." Mamorou told him.

"Yikes!" He gasped.

"Aha. Confessing?"

"I d-didn't do anything!"

"But impersonating someone is a crime plus sneaking into someone's room sans their permission and trying to record, film or take a photograph sans their permission… I've got a friend who's a lawyer and he told me about this." Mamorou listed.

"No way!"

"Way. Security! Contact the Satella Police."

"W-why the Satella Police?" The man gasped.

"Because a guy we know works there…" He shot back-

"Yikes!"

Mamorou dragged the man off the room while Misora fumed and got a twitch over her right eye.

"Men… Always doing pervert things…" She fumed.

"Pororon! Yeah. And they write history to leave girls out." Harp added with a hint of annoyance.

Misora sat back down on her chair and began to resume working on her lyrics while humming a tune.

_This has gotta be a ploy by a rival studio who must want to make me change my contract to benefit them… Zero chance! _

11:11 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hah! Did ya see it? I protected Kodama Town along with Juurou – san from the invaders! Hah! I'm invincible!"

"Buro~! Ya aren't invincible, Gonta."

"Wha~t?"

"Buro~! This is reality, Gonta."

"Why do ya always rob me of my moment of glory?"

"Buro~! Because then _iinchou_ gets angry with ya and she has to yell at ya to make ya snap back at reality, ya see…"

"Crap."

Gonta had been boasting inside of his house when Ox began to correct him: Gonta sighed in defeat and looked depressed now.

"Buro~! And don't think of trying to play the show-off: ya will get into a pinch! Buro~!" Ox insisted next.

"I know, I know…"

"Buro~! And I don't wanna see ya rummage the fridge anymore 'cause ya will only build up more fats and calories: that can be bad for your body, Gonta! Do ya wanna get ill or what?" Ox reminded him.

"No, no!" He gasped.

"Buro~! Then remember this: ya aren't invincible and not even Rock Man is, either. Look at what happened to the guy three weeks ago. Do ya wanna end up like him or what?" Ox brought up.

"N-no! Obviously not!" He turned white.

"Buro~! Then shut up and do something useful!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Ox fumed while Gonta sighed and sat down on his bed while looking at the ground…

11:15 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh… Not bad, Vadous, not bad… Ya were able to keep the ghosts of the past at bay and blow everything up… But I'd never imagined Omega liked keeping Vadous nervous, anyway… His humor has turned crazier in just one year and a few months… What a panorama! I hope someone finds a way to keep him restrained or he'll go and bring upon a catastrophe next time around…"

Tabuu was hovering inside of a largely unlit room which seemed to contain two cone-shaped machines aiming upwards and downwards and filled with LEDs: a large curved viewing window was built around the spherical room and allowed sights of an ocean somewhere.

"Heh, heh, heh. I did well on re-visiting this planet which I had spotted on my travels… It's uncharted in Earth databases, so… And given my abilities of Time-Space control, then he can't trace my gateways… I'm unpredictable and that must be enough to keep him awake all night long to try to pick up any hints or traces… Heh, heh, heh…"

He beat his wings and then looked out at the panorama: this ocean was largely unlit except for some spots filled with artificial structures which had their own lighting.

"Is there a better hiding place than the insides of an ocean hidden under an ice crust…? Well… Maybe a facility excavated inside of a mountain would do, yet… That is too aesthetic. No… My hiding place is way more esthetic! Vadous… This is just the beginning! I'm getting heated up and I will soon drive you nerve-racking…!" He muttered with increasing and obvious eagerness.

He returned to his earlier position and brought up several Real Wave screens displaying graphics and other information.

"Hmmm… My next episode will star… _this_… and _these guys_… Let's see them handle them… Heh, heh, heh. Oh… What a surprise it'll be for them, really… Heh, heh, heh…"

He chuckled under his breath….


	6. Chapter 6: Black Hole Server

**Chapter 6: Black Hole Server**

09:09 AM (Japan Time), Monday August the 29th…

"… Strike~!"

"… Hmmm…"

"Strike~!"

"Hmm…"

"Futaba dates Subari~!"

"WHAT?"

"Gotcha."

"War Rock…! That wasn't funny!"

Subaru suddenly sat up on his bed as War Rock laughed: he didn't look amused on the least as he yawned.

"It's barely 9 AM and you wake me up… Whaddya want?"

"Tease ya~!" War Rock grinned.

"By all the… Leave me alone." Subaru shot back.

"And while ya are alone Futaba will come and ask ya out for a manly date~? Ya will go eat ice – cream and play at the arcade~?" War Rock teased.

"This isn't funny! Don't mess with Tsukasa – kun's dignity, War Rock! And go slice Viruses up! Jeez! Off you go!" Subaru growled.

"Off to nowhere~!" He sang.

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Subaru commanded.

"Okay, Admiral Nelson!"

"Who…?"

"Later, Subari~!"

Subaru slapped his face in defeat as a grimace formed on it: he looked totally annoyed by now.

"This guy… There's no stopping him or what?" He cursed.

He stretched and stood up to look out into the skies: they were unclouded and a bright sun was illuminating the whole town.

"Tabuu… What will he come up with today?"

His Hunter – VG rang so he picked it up: Cepheus, the FM King, appeared on-screen.

"Hello, Cepheus!" He greeted.

"Good morning, Subaru. I have news." Cepheus went straight to the point with a sigh.

"Has something happened to Planet FM?" Subaru gasped.

"The Black Hole Server… The guards in charge of it were killed and now it's filled with those "Darkloids"… It hasn't changed position or anything but we can't do anything about it…" He reported.

"Tabuu's handiwork…" He grumbled.

"Vadous contacted me and told me about him. But I wasn't expecting him to be so bold." Cepheus admitted.

"Hum. It's his way of challenging us… I guess we'll need to gather some of the Denpa – Henkan users to storm it…" Subaru muttered.

"Hum… Well… We can't do much but encourage you guys. Be careful, though… Because it'd seem there's a new one amongst them which wasn't in that planet." Cepheus warned.

"New or not… I'll pulverize them!" War Rock boasted as he suddenly showed up in front of Subaru.

"Oh. Come on…" Subaru moaned.

"Grrr! Come out, you jerks! War Rock – sama will beat ya guys down the very last bolt!"

10:49 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Okay. We four should suffice for the time being. Harp Note and Acid Ace are waiting outside in standby…"

"At least you're being serious!"

"A mission's a mission…"

"Roger!"

Omega, Blood Shadow, Sigma and Rock Man were gathered in the entry spot of the Black Hole Server: the usual blackness was present and it was totally silent except for their own hushed voices: Omega looked somewhat more serious today, too.

"Mwah, hah, hah, ha~h! I'll slice and dice through them! Beast Man – sama's claws are unrivaled!"

"Slash! Slash Man – sama will chop them up!"

"PIKA… RIKA… PI~…"

"We know the rest, Element Man. But Plant Man – sama over here will turn them into food for his flower garden!"

"The "Darkloids"…!" Rock Man muttered.

"I, Beast Man – sama, go first! Hah!"

Beast Man struck as being slightly shorter in height: he was a "humanoid" model "Darkloid" yet he had a _beastly_ (like his name hinted) appearance to begin with.

His head was colored in the same color: a reddish slide-shaped piece sprouted from the top of it: his eyes' irises were red with black pupils: his jaw's color was brown and he had no nose: two fangs formed from inside of the nose openings: the drawing on his ear-pads was three parallel scars aiming SE and set against a black background: his orange-like hair came out from beneath the head and formed seven arched spikes which also extended downwards past the upper torso armor while forming six spikes: a reddish band surrounded the base of his neck.

His upper torso's armor was colored mud brown and had two fang-like drawings colored silver set over the sides of it.

His shoulders were orange spheroids with two red diamonds set over each one: his arms were missing the elbows and his forearms were larger than common: they were colored orange and the wrists ended in thick red circles having four small black rectangles drawn over it: three large claws and a shorter one sprouted from the ends of each one.

His hair also continued down his spine as well: his body until the hips was also colored black before the mud brown armor covered the legs and the feet started: the knee segment was decorated with a reddish edge, a main black color, and the forward edges were colored orange: the black coloring continued until the base of the feet from where three claws emerged from: two round orange spots were placed at the legs' ends.

"Heh! I'll pick this guy… Who goes next?" Sigma grinned as he drew his sword and took a step forward.

"Slash! Slash Man – sama goes next!"

Slash Man was a Net Navi whose height struck as being taller than Blood Shadow but shorter than Sigma: his upper body's color palette was lush green plus a vertical red stripe crossing through it.

His face's skin looked "human" enough yet his eyes lacked irises and were colored black: green armor protected the head and two claw-like shapes were set on both sides of it: he had a small red triangle drawn upon his chin, too.

His shoulders also had claw-like shapes set over them and armor covered the whole of his arms: the wrists were colored red and three sharp claws replaced his hands: they looked ready to cut through anything.

His emblem's design was elaborated (a white character looking like the Alphabet letter "L" turned 90º to the right and extending almost the whole length of it, a tear-shaped object close to the center and another drawing which looked like a small "V" character) and its background was mere black.

He had a small space between the upper armor and the lower body colored black: his legs were covered in thin armor which looked rather reminiscent of pants with yellow patterns running down the sides after starting on the waist: the front edge of his feet had a slight piece of black armor while the rest of them were unprotected.

"This one's mine." Omega drily announced.

"PI~… KA… RIKA…"

"Is that the guy named Element Man? I'm surprised he doesn't seem to be able to speak Japanese normally…" Blood Shadow wondered aloud with a hint of surprise.

Element Man was a tall "Darkloid" (over a meter and eighty) colored purple.

His head was shaped like a dome colored golden: his green eyes were set inside of a black-colored space while two white vertical "horn" extensions formed at the sides of it: he had no visible nose or mouth, curiously enough.

His main body's shape was that of a short cylinder plus a dome.

The dome-shaped part of his upper body had a magenta-like line drawn across it which formed the shape of the Alphabet letter "V" directly over the vertical stroke of the cross.

His emblem consisted on six small circles colored red, blue, white, gray, green and yellow inside of it plus a white rim and was set on the middle of a black cross.

His arms were thick while the forearms had three bands of magenta-colored circles set on them: his shoulders had two white cone-like extensions coming out of them.

His legs ended in two inverted-dome-shaped feet while the part below the knees had a general cone-like shape to them together with a small oval-shaped metallic slit on the front edge plus two magenta stripes: two metallic diamonds covered the knees.

Another two thin magenta stripes were placed on the hips and then the legs fused into a thin waist underneath the main body.

A metallic ring having six spheroids set on it hovered behind Element Man's body: the colors and order were the same as in the chest emblem: red, blue, white, gray, green and yellow.

"Heh, heh, heh… Calling on Plant Man…"

Plant Man's face skin was also tinted black: he had a small refined nose plus a mouth: his eyes didn't have irises and were colored green: a flower shape formed around his head and aimed backwards: its main color was a pale pink which then turned deeper in some spots near the far edge: two thorns came out from head where the ears would be at.

His head also had a red diamond set over the forehead and what was visible of the neck indicated that it was also colored black.

His upper body was tinted purple with two rows of seven pink-like dots forming a vertical pattern close to the inner edges of his main body: two orange-colored leaves shaped like a shirt's collar.

The space inside of the collar was colored lush green and that same color spread to the shoulders and until the wrists.

His shoulders had two white thorns each and his forearms had a bulb-like shape with four leaves spreading from the wrist in a cross-shaped formation: his hands' "skin" was black in color.

The outer edge of his main body was white in color but it began to gain tints of green and turning blacker in tonality until it reached the plain feet without any distinctive features.

Three circular pink-like circular bands marked the border between each layer of color until they reached the spot beneath the knees: the other segments had an uncolored band separating them.

Two spiraling vines with thorns forming out of them came out from behind his body and reached the ground: they began as lush green but turned pale green when they reached the end.

"Rock Man! You lowlife are MY prey! I will enjoy torturing you and hearing to your pleas before I grant you my secret weapon… The "kiss of death", like the KGB used!" He laughed.

"K-kiss of death…! This guy is a weirdo or what?" War Rock grumbled with some annoyance.

"You are the weirdo, being the alien you are." Plant Man smugly shot back with a broad grin.

"Yeah? And Tabuu ain't that?" War Rock shot back.

"How dare you shun Tabuu – sama's grace, you barbarian? I'll make you regret it!" Plant Man got annoyed.

"Let's go! Jumping Claw!"

"Rolling Slasher!"

"PIKARIKA~!"

"Plant Weed!"

Beast Man drew his claws and jumped towards Sigma: the black giant only had to lift his sword to make Beast Man's claws shatter upon impact: Sigma used his knuckles to hit Beast Man's forehead and sent him flying across the server.

"Send me a postcard when ya reach the Bahamas!" Sigma taunted as he laughed.

Slash Man began to spin upon his axis at a mad speed while heading for Omega who merely lifted the right eyebrow, folded his arms, and stepped to the right: Slash Man shot past him and ended up crashing against a wall thus getting embed on it.

"Weak." Omega muttered.

"You lowlife… I'm not over yet! Rolling Slasher!"

"Plasma Shot."

"Uga~h!"

The shot from his gun ended up melting part of Slash Man's armor: Omega didn't give him a break and he thrust his sword into his exposed core program: Slash Man roared and was blown up while Omega looked unimpressed.

"Enemy deleted." He merely reported.

Element Man, on the meanwhile, had made the red spheroid shift position and switched his color palette to red: he had some meteors rain down on Blood Shadow but he was able to dodge them without much trouble to then load up his shotgun.

"Charged shotgun shot!"

He placed the barrels on his chest and the zero-range blast pierced through Element Man thus deleting him: Blood Shadow dropped into the ground and sighed in relief.

"Phew."

Rock Man, however, was having trouble hitting Plant Man even by using Ox Noise Change: he'd formed a maze of weeds having thorns into them plus a shield made of leafs which was protecting him.

"Useless. Take this! Ice Cannon Ball!"

"What!"

The sphere hit Rock Man and cancelled his Ox Noise: he'd barely had time to react when the weeds suddenly coiled around his legs and arms: Plant Man loomed over him and began to try to strangle Rock Man while the weeds began to coil over his body and drive the thorns into him: Rock Man closed his teeth and eyes while trying to endure the pain: he suddenly formed the Muramasa Blade.

"Go… Rock!"

War Rock materialized, to Plant Man's surprise, and picked the Muramasa Blade, which he used to sever his waist in half.

"M-my prey…! UWA~H!"

He blew up, too, and the weeds vanished: Rock Man dropped into his knees and he panted.

"Rock Man! Are you alright?" Blood Shadow asked as he checked on his wounds.

"S-somehow… This guy was creepy…!" He muttered.

"Checkmate!"

"Look out!"

Omega tackled them out of the spot as someone came crashing down on the spot where they'd been at.

"Hum! King Man is going to checkmate these fools!"

King Man appealed to be over a meter and seventy tall, and, like his name hinted, was shaped like the "king" piece of the chess game.

His face had two simple eyes drawn on it plus a slightly exaggerated white moustache spreading until the shoulders: a golden crown was set around his forehead which had his emblem set upon it (a white crown with three pearls drawn above each spike and surrounded by a golden edge) plus the black cross typical of the "king" piece.

His shoulders were designed as spheroids and his arms lacked elbows: they ended in three discs piled on the wrists and his hands' skin was black yet they had four fingers instead of five.

His main body was that of a "king" piece colored with a black and white square pattern: a red coat with three silver edges had been built around the torso and it extended past his arms and until the wrists.

"Hum… Aha! This must be the "new Darkloid" Cepheus mentioned… King Man… Somewhat ironic, I think… He claims to be the "king" yet he's a but a mere piece in the playing board… A piece to be controlled by the player…" Rock Man calmly deduced.

"How dare you…!" King Man growled.

"Be gone." Omega coolly announced.

He showed up in front of him and plunged his saber into the upper torso: he then drew a circle and extracted it to reveal the core program inside of his body: Omega stabbed it with the saber.

"Tabuu – sama~!"

He blew up as well, so Omega picked the saber as it flew across the air to then shut it off and holster it on a compartment built upon his right hip: he looked indifferent.

"Is that all? I guess this is another teasing move." Vadous sounded disappointed, even.

"Wha~t? Already over? I want more~! Oi! Go fight the evil twins and let's S – Rank them!" War Rock grumbled.

"No." Rock Man sentenced.

"Heh, heh, heh… Listen to Hoshikawa, War Rock… Or else you'll crave your own watery grave like Prophet Jeremy…" Tabuu laughed.

"Show your useless hide!" War Rock taunted.

"Show me your moves." Tabuu calmly taunted back.

"Ya jerk… My blood's boiling!" War Rock exclaimed.

"No good. At all." Rock Man muttered.

"Well then… Our beloved monsters… Enjoy… I'll soon treat you guys to a VIP tour… Heh, heh, heh…"

"He's gone." Omega reported.

"Heh! Nice warm-up." Sigma grinned.

"Guess so." Blood Shadow shrugged.

"Let's go back home. I need something to shake this pain off because I don't want it chasing me all day long." Rock Man sighed.

"Listen, Tabby! War Rock – sama curses ya to get troll emails!"

_War Rock…! Stop saying nonsense…!_


	7. Chapter 7: Showdown

**Chapter 7: Showdown**

15:55 PM (Japan Time), Monday August the 29th…

"… Oh yeah! Did ya know what, Subari~? Misora is dating Jackie~!"

"Yeah. And you really expect me to act like a jealous husband?"

"Yeah! Do it! Turn Jackie~ into mincemeat!"

"Who do you think I am?"

"A butcher!"

"WHAT? War Rock! You've gone too far this time around!"

"I mean… Your alter ego is."

"What? Alter ego? Stop quoting stupid stuff from TV!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Hit a spot…"

"That ain't funny and Boss would agree with me."

"Bossing bossy of bosses?"

"ENOUGH!"

"That pitch turns me on!"

"Hah, hah. You don't have "it" to begin with."

"I knew that. It's a way of speaking."

"I give up!"

"War Rock – sama: 100 points! Subari~: 0 points! Mwa, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

Subaru was discussing with War Rock as he tried to read a book while sitting on the chair next to his desk inside of his bedroom: he looked pretty annoyed while War Rock was laughing.

"Get outta my room. Now." He hissed.

"Roger, Nelson!"

War Rock vanished and Subaru fumed: he headed into the kitchen and picked some cold water from the fridge: he drank it up and then sighed before resuming reading his book.

"There! I don't want any more interruptions." He fumed.

The Hunter – VG rang and he grumbled: Moon Disaster showed up on-screen and Subaru lifted an eyebrow.

"Moon Disaster. What's this about?" He demanded.

"YO, YO, YO! My latest poll!"

"Not again…!"

"Well then! My newest poll is: what is Rock Man's main hobby? Choice A is: butchering. Choice B is: slaughtering. Choice C is: serial killing. YO, YO, YO! Creepy enough, ain't it?" Moon Disaster grinned.

"War Rock's there, ain't he." He deduced.

"Yessir! War Rock – sama is everywhere, Kodama Town's butcher – sama~!" War Rock laughed.

"… War Rock and Moon Disaster. What are you doing?" Vadous' icy voice rang out over the line.

"Yikes! Where did the guy come from? And how could he know we were talking over the Hunter – VG?" War Rock gasped.

"I have a tag alert: any transmission with the tags "Moon Disaster" can be picked up by me. I don't trust him to not to come up with a totally pointless poll which damages someone's public image. And Subaru is a member of the Subspace so it's my duty to make sure they are not being harassed or bullied. War Rock. Stop bullying him or I'll come up with a method to allow for independent Denpa – Henkan sans the need of you like Solo does." Vadous icily listed.

"Wha~t?" War Rock was baffled.

"I'm serious. And Moon Disaster! Stop making up those polls or you will know the extent of my anger." Vadous hissed.

"… Y-yeah, _Danna_…" Moon Disaster looked nervous.

"This is an ultimatum, War Rock. Make up another lie about Subaru, you're fired." He threatened.

"Ugh! A-alright…"

"And that includes those stupid pairings you make up just to try to make him jealous. Jealousy always leads to tragedy and disaster. May I remember you how the Troy War started?" Vadous told him.

"… Because Paris of Troy "abducted" Helena of Greece… And the whole war was fought over her." Subaru dully replied.

"Get me, War Rock?" Vadous questioned.

"Y-yeah… Get it…"

"Over."

The line went dead and Subaru sighed in relief while the other two remained silent and nervous.

"Take your time." Subaru dully told him.

"O-oi!"

Subaru cut the line and then inputted some commands using the Hunter – VG's Real Wave screen: he switched it off next and continued reading his book.

"Ah… Finally. Some peace."

He spent a while calmly reading through the book before making a pause to stretch his legs: he headed over to the miniature Earth globe close to his bed and spun it around: he suddenly spotted some writing on it and crouched to have a closer look at it:

"This world is mine! War Rock – sama."

"War Rock… Not again…" He groaned.

He fumed and sighed in defeat.

"This guy…!" He muttered next.

He ran into the kitchen and picked some cleansing products plus a piece of cloth: he applied them to the globe and managed to wash off the inscription into it: he stored everything and then sat down on the chair to continue reading.

"… Yu…"

"Hmmm?"

Subaru turned around to see Laplace hovering behind him.

"Laplace? Where's Solo?" He asked with obvious surprise.

As a response, Laplace interacted with Subaru's computer and made a map show up on-screen.

"The Bermuda Labyrinth…?" He asked for confirmation.

"… Ga…"

"Okay. I'll be there."

Laplace silently warped out while Subaru sighed and turned on the Hunter – VG: he activated a function and waited.

"… You called?" War Rock asked as he appeared inside of it.

"Solo demands a rematch."

"… Ah. Yeah, yeah… Eh… Let's go…" He timidly muttered.

"Yeah. And be serious." Subaru drily commanded.

"Y-yeah… I'll try to…"

"Denpa – Henkan. Hoshikawa Subaru, On Air."

He became Rock Man and headed into the Wave Roads: he stepped into the Cosmo Wave, and, from there, located the drop point to the Bermuda Labyrinth: it was, as usual, filled with fog.

"Creepy enough. Let's go." He muttered.

He made his way through the several areas until he reached the famous square with the Mu emblem drawn on it: Burai was waiting there with his arms folded and Laplace was hovering at his side: he looked serious and hostile today.

_Seems like everyone's turning serious again… Fine. I prefer them serious to their endless trolls._

"… You came." Burai merely announced.

"Let's start." Rock Man replied.

"That's my motto. Come, Laplace!"

Laplace formed into the Laplace Blade and Burai took a step forward while Rock Man did the same.

"Come!"

Burai started by warping around the field while Rock Man tried to shoot his Mu Rejection so as to disable it: Burai suddenly appeared in front of him and prepared to swing the Laplace Blade.

"Not so fast, Burai! Drill Arm X!"

Rock Man drove the Drill Arm X into Burai and stunned him at the same time he was pushed backwards: Rock Man switched to Ox Noise and used a Machine Flame X Battle Card to inflict further damage thanks to the elemental bonus: Burai roared and began to move around at a maddening speed.

"Careful now…" Rock Man muttered.

Burai landed down from above and destroyed some of the battlefield's tiles: Rock Man dodged and began to shoot at the Mu Rejection to wear it out: Burai formed his purple energy knuckles and sent them flying down Rock Man's columns: he dodged them and then got ready as Burai got ready to sweep the ground with the blade.

"Impact Cannon!"

"Guah!"

The blast pushed Burai backwards and he muttered something before starting to move around: he tossed the Laplace Blade towards Rock Man as it came from the NE and then the NW: Rock Man dodged both attacks and barely blocked Burai's landing from above and the consequent shockwave: Burai jumped back into the center of the stage and began to move around yet again.

"Gotta focus… There!"

Rock Man tried to shoot at Burai but he suddenly appeared in front of Rock Man and delivered his four-hit-combo, momentarily dizzying him: Rock Man groaned and focused into dodging while shooting at the Mu Rejection until he wore it out: Rock Man then waited until Burai got ready to attack again.

"Break Saber X!"

"Gruah!"

Rock Man stunned Burai and increased the Noise Level further: he then shot another Machine Flame X at Burai to further damage him and waited for Burai to recover and get close to him: Rock Man quickly shot the Mu Rejection until it faded.

"Mad Vulcan X!"

"Ugh!"

The multiple hits damaged Burai and Rock Man chained a Dancing Blade X to make use of the spot where Burai had stopped at: Burai began to pant and formed a grimace as his equilibrium began to fail: he managed to correct himself and clenched his teeth.

_Huh? Out of 4000 HP, I have taken out half of them, more or less. Why does he look tired? Unless…_

"Grrr… Hah!"

"Gotcha. Sword Fighter X!"

"Guh!"

Burai tried to deliver the four-hit-combo but Rock Man was faster in reflexes and hit him six times in a row: Burai stepped back but Rock Man grinned.

"Finalize! Black Ace!"

He transformed into Black Ace: Burai made a grimace and tried to swing the sword: Rock Man saw it coming.

"Not so fast, Burai! Grave Joker Galaxy Advance!"

Grave Joker showed up on the field and punched Burai as well as making a "Giant Building" drop down atop him: Rock Man then summoned Acid Ace: he shot several rounds at him before turning on his boosters and running down the field.

"Not yet! Wolf Forest Galaxy Advance!"

Wolf Forest attacked Burai and inflicted further damage: Rock Man then began to hover around while shooting out at Burai: his adversary panted and he looked like he was having trouble keeping on.

_Weird. He still has 1200 HP left and looks like he only had 12… Something's wrong with Burai today._

"Let's go! Strong Swing X!"

Club Strong appeared on the field and began to hit Burai repeatedly with his club: Burai ended up half-stunned and half-dizzied but managed to start moving again: Rock Man, however, saw it coming.

"Atomic Blazer!"

"Uga~h!"

"Vulcan Seed X!"

The Vulcan Seed X managed to intercept Burai's four-hit-combo attack and Rock Man breathed deeply before slowly exhaling.

"Black End… Galaxy!"

"UGOA~H!"

The powerful attack swept the battlefield with Burai on it and made him collapse into the ground: Rock Man reverted out of Black Ace form and crouched next to him: he had some distinct sword wounds which shone with a golden glow.

"… Burai. You battle someone else before you called me. And the only one who could drive you to such ends had to be Tabuu. Didn't I tell you his armor couldn't be destroyed with mere attacks?" Rock Man deduced with a sigh.

"Ugh… You're right… But I got angry… The jerk… loitering the Mu continent in front of my eyes… wouldn't let him get away… but the jerk toyed with me using swords… didn't fight seriously… and all of my attacks were in vain… he ended up warping me outta the place and I wanted to take out my frustration into you… Rock Man…" He admitted.

"That won't do, Burai. Brute force isn't the answer and neither is anger or hatred. That's what that "Nebula Grey" thing was aiming for: a conflict stained by anger and hatred…" Rock Man told him.

"Guess you're right… Ugh… Unh… Hah, hah… Huff, huff… I feel totally beaten up…" He muttered.

"Here. A full recovery program Boss designed…"

Rock Man handed it to Burai and he used it to recover: he managed to stand but had to sit down on the ground soon enough given his tiredness: he hissed something under his breath.

"What did he take, though?" Rock Man asked.

"As far as I saw… Some kind of schematics regarding a system to use Denpa accumulation as a source of energy… Just like how the OOPArts are powered: by absorbing atmospheric Denpa…" Burai admitted.

"Hmmm… Maybe he's trying to locate the 3rd OOPArt?"

"Dunno. I never bothered to try to figure out where the Berserk and Shinobi OOPArts ended up at: the Dinosaur one was our choice given how it was exhibited in the museum…"

"Hmmm… Suspicious…" Rock Man muttered.

"Yeah… But I dunno what use the jerk sees to it…" He shrugged.

"I'll talk it with Boss: he might have an idea." Rock Man suggested.

"Wait."

"What?"

"Don't think I've grown bored of our little game…" He formed a smug smile.

"… Crap." Rock Man muttered.

"Heh. I terrify you?" Burai began to get animated.

"… Could be." He drily replied.

"Heh. That sounds like a bureaucrat." Burai teased.

"Not again… I am not a lawyer or a bureaucrat! End of the story!"

"Isn't that Wizard going to say anything?" Burai asked as he managed to stand up somehow.

"No. Boss gave him an ultimatum and he's gonna keep his trap shut along with Moon Disaster: I'm tired of having my reputation undermined and their attempts at trying to spark a jealousy war."

"A jealousy war, eh?" Burai seemed to like the idea.

"Burai. Not you too." Vadous fumed over the radio.

"Boss? You were watching?" Rock Man asked.

"Yeah. I heard the talk. I dunno what Tabuu sees in such tech: he knew perfectly how to build fusion reactors like the ones he used to power the spaceships." Vadous admitted.

"Maybe he's trying to set up fake leads?" Rock Man suggested.

"Could be, too. I know he's read all of Sherlock Holmes' stories and Agatha Christie's, too."

"Anyway… I better go back home." Rock Man muttered.

"Yeah. And, Burai… No jealousy wars or you'll know the extent of my anger: I'm legally responsible for him as one of my organization and I don't tolerate bullying." Vadous warned.

"Fine…" Burai shrugged.

Rock Man ran out of the square while Burai stretched and suddenly looked around: he frowned.

"… Is it me or did I feel a familiar signature…?" He wondered.

"… Ga… Yu…" Laplace muttered.

"What? There was someone but their trail has vanished? Hmmm… I doubt it being Phantom Black: the jerk is too blunt to sneak away so easily. But who else could it be? Ah! One of those three…? Yeah… It had to be them: they're taking profit of this incident to come up with something. But whatever they come up is in vain." Burai reflected aloud.

"… Yu… Ra… Ga…"

"What now? Huh? You wanna play a game? Go to Spica Mall and play the games there: stay away from MY game collection."

"… Yu…"

Laplace floated out of the square while Burai looked down towards the ocean: a storm was being unleashed down there, as evidenced by the tall waves and agitated sea.

"A storm… Maybe they took profit of the Denpa build-up to hide their signature… Hmpf. Clever bothersome guys… Whatever. Once this Tabuu jerk is brought down, then… Those three are next. My blade is itching to bring them down once and for all… I'll need to remember the techniques that Death Shadow jerk used if I want to beat the jerk down… But it can wait… I'll play with Rock Man around a bit… The guy is amusing to see when I drive him into a corner… Heh." He formed a smug smile.

He then chuckled under his breath…


	8. Chapter 8: Na Tou

**Chapter 8: Na Tou**

10:20 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday August the 31st…

"… Who was the President of Y Nation in the year 2188?"

"OMEGA!"

"Again?"

Vadous was standing in front of an armored door placed on the left side of a curved metallic corridor decorated with arches and with fluorescent lights set on the ceiling: labeled armored doors were built at both sides of it, too: the door Vadous was standing in front of was labeled "STORAGE #09".

"Yeah, Lartes."

"By all the…"

Lartes had met up with Vadous and looked rather frustrated and annoyed with Omega's crazy behavior: a twitch formed over his right eye and he was tapping the metallic wall in a gesture of impatience while Vadous was barely holding back his anger.

"Is there no keeping the guy under tabs? Every time I try to reprogram him to be serious… Then he goes and loopholes the whole program: my efforts become useless!" Vadous cursed.

"More problems with Omega, Boss?"

"Yeah, Kir Osh."

Kir Osh fell short of Lartes by five to six centimeters despite being on the same age group: his hair was neatly combed and blond in color while his eyes' irises were emerald greed.

Similar to Lartes, Kir Osh sported the Alphabet "K" character over the chest area plus a sword sheath.

"I repeat the question: who was the President of Y Nation in the year 2188?" Omega's pre-recorded voice asked.

"No – one. There's never been such a nation." Lartes grumbled.

"Correct, Doc! Go help Hibiki grow "those" larger!"

"By all the… Insulting my honor as medic by saying I do such vulgar and pointless stuff…! Where's the guy?" Lartes cursed.

"Inside of the car Kir Osh broke~!"

"I've never broken a car: I was a car mechanic for something! And we don't have cars!" Kir Osh cursed.

"SIGMA~!" Vadous yelled.

"W-what's up, Boss?" Sigma asked as he ran up the corridor from the left while looking nervous.

"Where's your CO?" He questioned.

"Huh? Sir Omega? Eh… I think he isn't onboard, Boss. He said something about visiting Field Strategist Zendong…" He hesitantly replied.

"Visit Mark Zendong? He's gonna troll him next! By all the… I knew I shouldn't have given him clearance to use the portal machine! Go back to your room!" Vadous fumed.

"R-roger!"

"Grah! I'll grab the light bulbs I need and then change the password back to what it was!" Vadous growled.

He ran inside of the room, picked three spare light bulbs boxes and then interacted with the control panel.

"New password: Uranus' rings!" He hissed.

"Password change completed: password has returned to its original setting…" The auto-voice announced.

"That bothersome guy…!" Lartes growled.

"I'm about to blow him up…!"

"Me too…!" Kir Osh added.

10:33 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Omega! What are you doing with the simulator? Huh? And who told you to come in unannounced?"

"Ya see, Marquis, Mr. Universe guided me~!"

"I am a not a marquis!"

Omega was fooling around with an "Air Display" device set inside of small square room the south end of which had a large viewing window: other furniture included an armchair with wheels and a command console plus a water dispenser device: a man came in and didn't look amused.

"Marquis of Marquises!"

"Mark Zendong!"

Mark Zendong was a man on his early 20s who stood as being over a meter and eighty tall: his brown hair was neatly cut and combed while his eyes' irises were brown as well: he was clean shaven,

He sported military-like clothing colored brown plus a cap and black boots which reached up to the knees.

"Marquis of Zendong!"

"OMEGA~!" Vadous roared over the radio.

"Ops. Snake found me out." Omega grinned.

"What are you doing there, huh? And how did you loophole my programming?" He questioned.

"Easy. I always smuggle my goods past it."

"Che!" Vadous grumbled.

"… What the… This battle simulation is ridiculous!" Zendong suddenly cursed as he typed into the "Air Display" machine.

"No! It's brilliant!" Omega countered.

"It's crazy!"

The simulation showed two fleets of space ships engaging each other in a spatial battle before a blue dot in the middle of both formations exploded and the shockwave wiped out both fleets: the words "GAME OVER" colored red popped out next.

"How can you say it's brilliant? Putting an H – Bomb in the middle and detonating it to destroy both combatants…!" Zendong looked up while looking scandalized.

"WHA~T! OMEGA~! ARE YOU CRAZY~ OR WHAT? NOBODY JOKES WITH H – BOMBS! YOU LOWLIFE! COME BACK HERE BEFORE MY ANGER BECOMES IMPOSSIBLE TO CONTROL! THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES! OR ELSE I'LL COME AND DRAG YOU BACK HERE MYSELF!" Vadous exploded over the radio.

"Explosion Man came." Omega shrugged.

The purple gateway suddenly opened and Vadous rushed out: he pulled Omega's hair and dragged him back inside before it closed: Zendong fumed and began to type into the "Air Display" machine.

"Erase this simulation, Red Joker!"

"Roger."

"That guy… Trying to drive us crazy…! And joking with H – Bombs…! Has he never heard of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?" Zendong cursed.

"I'd say no!" Vadous fumed.

"Did you shut the guy inside of the capsule?"

"Yeah. We can handle sans this moron." Vadous confirmed.

"Deserved it…" Zendong fumed next.

"Totally. Now I need a tea."

Zendong sat down on the armchair and began to look up several displays which seemed to be live camera feed.

"Nothing out of place…"

10:39 AM (Japan Time)…

"… So? Why did we come here?"

"I want to talk with Boss to see if he found the data on Tabuu's armor: this way I can begin thinking of a folder to attack him."

"Ah. Good."

Subaru and War Rock were walking down one of the corridors and Subaru stopped in front of a door with the label "ELEVATOR TO COMMAND BRIDGE" which he opened to step into a small room which only contained a cargo elevator and its climbing shaft: he stepped into the platform and inputted a command into a console: the elevator hummed and began to climb up.

"Up we go." Subaru smiled.

"Hmmm…"

The elevator reached its end and Subaru stepped out of it into a small dome-shaped room: he stopped and looked around while being seemingly in awe.

"It always awes me!" He admitted.

"Sure, sure…"

The floor was a narrow steel corridor wide enough for one person to stand which was shaped like two trapezes connecting each other by a line: the ground was lowered and covered in a grid – like metal on the spaces between each trapeze and to left and right of the corridor: another room could be seen expanding downwards below this one through the metallic grid's openings.

"What's that down there?" War Rock asked.

"The Central Hub, Rock…"

"Ah. I'd forgotten." He shrugged.

"Let's see…"

Subaru spotted a small circle which marked the start of a rail crossing across the room until the other end: he followed it with his sight and ended up spotting a black metallic armchair with the Alphabet letter "V" painted behind it on purple color placed at the end of the rail and giving Subaru the back.

"That's _Danna_'s chair, huh?" War Rock asked.

"Yeah. Huh? It'd seem that Boss isn't there…"

The other end of the room contained a console which was filled with several LEDs, indicators, switches, levers and buttons plus a built-in keyboard and mouse pad: three gigantic and interconnected LCD screens had been affixed to the wall to be above it.

"Oh. And up there…" Subaru muttered as he looked upwards.

The room's walls had several metallic stripes built into it which contained round LED lights: the centermost point of the room had a hatch built into the ceiling which was currently closed.

"Maybe trouble showed up?" War Rock asked.

"Dunno…"

"Hello, Subaru."

Vadous came in while sipping a cup of tea: he walked past him and sat down on the armchair while keeping on drinking the tea.

"Eh… Something happened, Boss?" Subaru timidly asked.

"Yeah. That guy. I had to lock him up." He summed up.

"Oh. Omega – san was turning berserk?"

"More or less. But coming up with battle simulations and jokes involving H – Bombs didn't amuse us."

"H – Bombs?" Subaru gasped.

"I said it's a silly simulation which he came up with by toying with Zendong's computer…" Vadous calmly replied.

A beep suddenly rang out and Vadous lifted his gaze to look at the centermost LCD screen: live feed from a camera displaying an Aztec-like temple built in the middle of an island somewhere popped out and it was evident that something was going on given the camera's shaking and how the building's top area seemed to be crumbling.

"By all the… That's in SS1! The Ancient Temple which I built to store _that thing_…! And that's gotta be Tabuu's handiwork! He wants to use _that thing_ against me…!" Vadous cursed.

"_That thing_…?" Subaru frowned.

"Dunno…" War Rock trailed off.

"Come with me, Subaru!" Vadous suddenly commanded as he stood up and ran towards the entrance.

"Eh? Eh… Do we know…?" Subaru timidly asked as he tried to catch up with his quick pacing.

"Not yet. But I know how to stop that thing." Vadous immediately replied as he stepped into the elevator platform.

"R-roger."

They stepped into the elevator and went down the shaft to exit into the corridor: they then accessed an adjacent door labeled "PORTAL MACHINE ROOM" to step into an almost empty room containing something.

"The portal machine…" Subaru muttered.

The machine consisted on two components: a pyramidal metallic base plus a tall ring structure two meters tall: some devices and monitors were attached to both sides of it, too.

"Start up! Destination: SS1's Temple!" Vadous commanded.

"Acknowledged."

The machine hummed and the purple gateway formed inside of it.

"Let's go!"

10:44 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh… What good stuff! Here! Smash it all! Na Tou! Heh, heh, heh…"

"Freeze!"

"That's as far as you come, Tabuu!"

"My, my… We have audience?"

Rock Man and Vadous appeared at the beginning of the temple's stairway: Tabuu could be seen hovering over the big hole which had formed on the topmost part of the temple and using his energy strings to pull something inside upwards.

"Behold!"

He beat his wings and flew upwards to reveal a giant statue-like enemy which looked rather similar to Ra Mu save that the face was sculpted to reflect anger and it was colored red and black instead.

Its body was shaped like a cylinder and its arms only had three fingers on them apart from being attached to the body.

Two crude feet with three fingers were placed near the base, too.

"Na Tou! Destroy the heretics!" Tabuu laughed.

"Hmpf." Vadous formed a smug smile.

He inputted some commands into the Hunter – VG and the thing's reddish eyes suddenly lost their coloring: it emitted a howling sound before starting to fall back inside: Tabuu had to sever the strings to avoid being pulled down by the thing.

"What the… Override device…?" He cursed.

"Yeah. Game Over."

"My, my… Too bad. I wanted to study its power system even if it's a crude predecessor to Ra Mu's one… Oh well. Guess I need another idea and I can discard this one." He sighed.

"Power system…? Why do you need that?" Rock Man questioned.

"Good question, Holmes Jr."

"What? Me? Holmes Jr.?" Rock Man sounded skeptical.

"Oho. I just found out something interesting." Tabuu looked downwards.

"What?" Vadous frowned.

"Missile Launcher!"

"What!"

Several missiles were shot skywards from inside of the temple and then rained down on Vadous and Rock Man: they shielded their bodies somehow and then looked up to see another salvo of missiles heading towards them.

"Bothersome meddling guy!" Vadous let out.

He drew both swords, intercrossed them, and had them accumulate electricity which split into several "thunderbolts" aimed towards each missile: they were all intercepted and Vadous then jumped towards Tabuu but was repelled by an invisible barrier: Vadous landed half-way up the stairs and cursed.

"I didn't make that thing up!" He cursed.

"Nope. I added it up." Tabuu chuckled.

"Where did those missiles come out from?" Rock Man demanded between pants.

"Na Tou had a missile launcher attached to its back: you added it back in October, 2203, didn't you, _aibou_?" Tabuu let out.

"Crap! I'd forgotten it was there!" Vadous cursed.

"No wonder. It's been close to two years, after all."

"I'll find the weak point on that bloody armor… And get rid of it to make you be powerless!" Vadous cursed.

"I'd like to see you trying, _aibou_. Anyway… I'm off to continue my exclusive VIP tour. See ya around. And beware of guys who come in from the rear, too… Heh, heh, heh."

Tabuu glowed with a golden lighting and then shot skywards before becoming invisible: his laughter echoed around the area.

"Ran away… The bothersome jerk…!"

"But… By "VIP tour" he may mean that he's going to shift his targets to here, to the "Subspace" per se?" Rock Man suggested.

"… Could be… If he aims to get me nervous…" Vadous trailed off.

"Boss? Are you alright?" Lartes asked.

"Somehow…"

"I've lost track of the guy…" Lartes admitted.

"As expected…" Vadous fumed.

"Come back here. Subaru. I want to make sure you're not building up any sequels to all this damage you've been accumulating."

"Roger, Master."

"Dispatch the repair Wizards over here… We need to rebuild the top part of the temple." Vadous commanded.

"No problem. Kir Osh will be glad to have something to repair, for once, I'd say. And that guy hasn't moved from the capsule, so it'd seem that the forceful shutdown by removing the power cell worked." Lartes told Vadous with a sigh of relief.

"It had to: he can't turn himself on without that." Vadous sighed.

"I think that it's better to leave him some days like that and then we'll be able to install better programming."

Rock Man didn't mind their conversation and looked at the vast ocean.

_Tabuu… What are you gonna target next?_


	9. Chapter 9: Ghost city battle

**Chapter 9: Ghost city battle**

17:17 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday August the 31st…

"… Heh, heh, heh… The thirty-six bells of doom have rung out to signal this fatidic moment… Let's go explore a ghost city and find its treasure. They say ghost cities have treasures on them, don't they? Well then… I'm gonna get my own treasure which makes gold pebbles look pale and ridiculous in comparison… Heh, heh, heh…"

Tabuu appeared inside of a stone building which had been half-dismantled: it looked like an auditorium with some steps leading to the stage and some rows of seats: the stage's furthest in wall had been removed and so had the ceiling: most of the place looked like it was being dismantled given the lack of lighting save for Tabuu's pale blue glow which illuminated a small radius of the area.

"The city's "auction house"… But what was auctioned here was more than just canvases, collectors' items, Choina porcelains or other stuff which gets auctioned from time to time… No… This place has a sinister story written into its walls… The houses here were shelters to criminals who had their own "basements" in which unspeakable things happened… No wonder Vadous was so hell-bent on shutting this down first of all before bringing Anaya down. And it'd seem he's bent into dismantling the whole place to leave no trace of what happened here…" He muttered.

He flew outside of the building which was lacking any doors or windows yet the spaces where they should have been at were still left: some Wizards and robots were working on removing parts of the building and setting up explosive charges: Tabuu flew past them and looked on into the blackness.

"How many houses were there? Ah. I remember… 16. The total habitants were… Hmmm… If each one was allowed to have 2 of "them" and there were 3 per house… 48 habitants… Small town, I know. But it was a town of vice and evil, too…" He calculated.

He didn't spot a Wizard looking towards him and then flying northwards at a mad speed…

17:20 PM (Japan Time)…

"… It's been a while since I last came here, too. So? Do we know what Tabuu is going to do next?"

"We believe he'll show up here again, Misora – chan."

"Good. At least we have a thread to pull at."

"Pororon! War Rock is being very quiet…"

"Boss gave him an ultimatum to stop bullying me."

"I knew it'd end up happening."

Subaru, Misora and Harp were talking as they sat on the ground inside of a metallic room having a large viewing window looking out into Earth from a set height: War Rock was hovering in a corner and not saying anything while Harp looked surprised.

"By the way… What happened at Okudama Studios?" Subaru brought up as he looked at her.

"Oh. That… It turns out it was a complot from a rival TV station to try to make me quit working there and firm an exclusive deal with them. And guess who decided that? A mister on his 50s!" Misora looked like her dignity had been attacked.

"E~H? B-but that's… Eh… Ain't it…?"

"Being a pervert? Of course! I asked Akatsuki – san to run a background check on him. Guess what? Three employees had reported harassment coming from the guy, the Staff Chief! Now that their "insider" has spilled the beans they have enough evidence to arrest him on the charges of disloyal competency and with the accusation of having perverted motives behind the plot." Misora added.

"Really… It must be hard to bear with those. What happened to that managed you had, Kaneda?"

"Oh? That man? Akatsuki – san also brought up that he'd committed tax evasion! I'm independent by now!" She grinned.

"That's good! Really… You've had bad luck in life, right?"

"Of course… But thanks to you, Subaru – kun, I've become stronger and shoved my fears away." She sighed in relief.

"Eh… By the way… Has Ice been behaving?"

"Ice? Yeah. She behaves. She longer gets those jealousy fits given how Suzuka is making progress on her career." She admitted.

"That's good. I should really go there one day to speak with Urakata – san… We haven't talked for a while." Subaru muttered.

"Say, Subaru – kun… I never got to know Tsukasa – kun very well, but, even so… Do you… think of him as being more than a friend?"

"Huh? Eh… Well… I'm worried about him because I don't want him being consumed by his regrets and wanted to say to him that I wanted to forgive him for what happened back then…" Subaru trailed off.

"But… Maybe you… appreciate him?"

"Appreciate… You mean… eh… But that was a joke War Rock and the others made up…!" Subaru began to get nervous.

"I won't get jealous. If you think he's your target in life, then go ahead! I'll back you up. We're still young, Subaru – kun. We don't need to rush. All will come to happen with time." Misora reassured him.

"Ah… Thank you, Misora – chan…" Subaru blushed.

"Did I turn you nervous? I didn't intend to."

"I know you didn't, yet… Ah. Nothing…"

"Tee, heh, heh. You're envisioning the future, Subaru – kun?" Misora teased with a giggle.

"N-no! Nobody can envision the future, after all…!"

"Maybe we need to invent a Future Man?"

"W-who knows?"

The door suddenly opened and Lartes rushed in while looking out of breath: both quickly stood up and stepped away from each other while blushing.

"Tabuu! The Underground City! He's there!" He reported.

"Oh! Then my hunch was correct!" Subaru turned serious.

"Wasn't the shelter from criminals Anaya had Vadous build?"

"Correct. It's 50% dismantled by now. But Tabuu seems to be searching for something useful. No, I don't believe he wants to use the city as something to stain Boss' reputation because he never understood the concept of "scandal", so…" He explained in a rush.

"Then… We should get there, right, Master?"

"Correct. Follow me! We'll use the portal machine."

"Roger!"

They ran out of the room and followed Lartes into an elevator: he pressed the button labeled "3rd Deck" and the elevator climbed upwards: it pinged when they reached their target and they quickly ran out into the corridor and heading down it.

"The city was divided in eight sectors with two houses each and the center section had a main plaza where an auditorium had been built at: the auditorium building also had the elevator climbing to SS2's surface where a tower to dock shuttles was erected. All power came from a power plant set on the southern side plus a backup one on the northern side. He's heading to the southern one because the northern one has already been dismantled and nothing is left. The southern one is pending, so it's still intact yet shut down. And he must be targeting the fusion reactor there because it must still have deuterium and tritium reserves! Fusion reactors are not to be toyed with!" Lartes detailed in a rush.

"Obviously not… And we don't want him building up a weapon using raw plasma from that thing, either." Misora added.

_Tabuu…!_ Subaru thought as he formed a grimace.

17:25 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Brrr! This place is cold and it gives me the creeps."

"Bear with it, Subaru – kun! We've gotta halt Tabuu."

Rock Man and Harp Note were rushing down an avenue built inside of the underground city and using built-in flashlights to illuminate the path: four houses could be seen close by all having signs of having suffered a fire given the charred marks on the outside: they all were just one story tall and built using brick.

"Shah, shah, shah~! This is as far as ya come! Too bad! But Tabuu – sama's orders are absolute~!"

"Heh, heh, heh… I was missing a thrill…"

"Crap! "Darkloids"…!" Rock Man gasped.

"Tabuu…!" Harp Note cursed.

"Shah, shah, shah! I'm Needle Man!"

Needle Man's upper body was shaped like a circle with a dome over it: the color of his choice was navy blue: the front part of the circle had a rectangular vertical cavity cut out with eight slightly curved metallic pieces set in a vertical row.

His face's skin had been painted in black coloring, too, and he had no nose: his eyes were colored yellow with red irises and a smug smile was drawn on his face: a small red vertical rectangle was set on the forehead.

Four needles came out of the dome part of the body (and having an orange circular edge circling the spot from where they sprouted out from) around the head which was drawn inside of a larger needle.

His arms were human-like given how they were attached to the body: orange-colored bands split it in two halves with the upper half being colored navy blue and the lower half tinted sky blue: a needle came out of each shoulder, too: four blackish long fingers were set at the ends of the arms.

The boots began over the knees and followed the same pattern as in the arms: a needle came out from the armor over each knee: they had a small hollow cavity cut close to the heel.

"I'm Star Man!"

Star Man appealed as being shorter in height than Needle Man but he had a more "humanoid" design to him: his upper body was colored navy blue and the rest of it was pure white.

His face was white in color: he had no nose and his eyes were navy blue with small round white spots on them: he had two round navy blue/blackish ear-pads with a small reddish cone coming out of them and aiming SE.

His hairstyle was punk in style (or at least gave off that impression): it consisted on five golden spikes aiming northwards

His emblem, a white star set against a blue background with red and blue edges, could be spotted on the forehead.

His arms were blue in color until the elbow and then turned white: he sported two tall boots with a brown upper edge just below the knee while their main color was a dull orange one.

Three golden bands were wrapped around his neck and a scar-like extension came out from behind it to end in a star shape.

"Shah, shah, shah! Needle Cannon!"

"Shooting Star Shower!"

"Mad Vulcan X!"

"Break Saber X!"

"Heh! Gotcha! Counter Barrier!"

"Counter Barrier!"

"What!"

"What?"

Needle Man transformed his arms into cannon muzzles and began to shoot some thick needles towards Rock Man while Star Man opened a "gateway" of sorts to begin firing shooting stars at Harp Note: both Denpa – Henkan users' attempts to countering were met with a purple-colored shield which made the hits bounce back.

"Tabuu…! He's made them tougher!" Rock Man cursed.

"But maybe Mega and Giga Cards still work?"

"Worth a try… Apollon Flame X!"

"Gekiryuu Wave!"

"Counter Barrier!"

"Counter Barrier!"

Both attacks were bounced off again and they hit Rock Man and Harp Note instead: they both cursed and hissed under their breath.

"We won't get anywhere at this rate!" She cursed.

"I know! There has to be a way around them!" Rock Man grumbled with clear annoyance.

"Shah, shah, shah! Is that all? I expected more from the so-called "Raid Troop"!" Needle Man taunted.

"Let's put them out of their misery." Star Man grinned.

"Wait. Aren't barriers weak to Break – type attacks? Yet the Break Saber didn't work or… No, look! Star Man's barrier has a crack on it… We need to insist!" Rock Man whispered.

"Roger! Break Saber X!"

"Hammer Weapon X!"

"Counter Barrier!"

"Counter Barrier!"

"Gotcha."

"What!"

Harp Note's attack broke the Counter Barrier and opened a gash on Star Man's torso while Rock Man's attack formed a big crack on the barrier which ended up shattering and hitting Needle Man thus dizzying him for some seconds.

"Let's go! Hra~h! Atomic Blazer!"

"Elemental Cyclone~!"

"SHA~H!"

"UWA~H!"

Both NFB attacks were enough to destroy the enemies who blew up and left nothing behind: Rock Man and Harp Note sighed in relief and kept on advancing: a large metallic building came into view but it was sealed off by a "Dimensional Area" to the frustration of both of them.

"Tabuu~! Come out! Fight like a man!" Rock Man challenged.

"Yeah! Show your useless hide!" Harp Note taunted.

"My, my. Impatient youth… Had this place still been active, your little missing friend could've ended up here for all you know. And then all searches would've been in vain…" He chuckled.

"You can't make fun of person's lives!" Rock Man growled.

"I didn't intend to. I was just toying with a "what-if" scenario… Good job finding out the weaknesses of the Counter Barriers. I'll quadruple their resistance for the next time." Tabuu replied.

"Do you think we'll let you build an H – bomb to threaten us?" Rock Man questioned.

"What? Build an H – bomb? Who said that?"

"We've guessed!" Harp Note replied.

"My, my. As expected of Watson Jr.! You always end up a hundred steps short of the goal!" He replied.

"So you wanna use the plasma as a weapon?" Harp Note asked.

"Weapon, weapon… What obsessions! I don't need a weapon right now because I have plenty of them. I only need a power source for my HQ given how I've got a lot of machinery to power up."

"So that's why you're interested in this stuff? Are you gonna target the factories in SS3 next?" Lartes questioned over the radio.

"Ask the President of B – Nation." He laughed.

"Not you too…!" Lartes growled.

"Ops. Hit a spot… Well then… I'll be taking my leave and be ready for my next episode. Dancing dancer of dances! Struggle within the snows of Siberia and return with a _souvenir_!" He laughed.

The "Dimensional Area" was turned off and both hurried inside only to find that he was nowhere to be seen: two berserk Wizards were attacking the inactive reactor, though, and hitting some cylinders popping out of the top and bottom parts sustaining the central spheroid.

"No good! The reactor is still loaded! If they trigger an electrical reaction then it could very well turn on without control and implode! Stop them right here and now!" Lartes gasped.

"Roger!"

"GRUO~H!" Both Wizards roared.

"Come on… Behave yourselves! Sword Fighter X!"

"Drill Arm X!"

Both attacks deleted the Berserk Wizards so both combatants lowered their weapons and looked at the mole of the dormant reactor without noticing a figure hidden in the space between the ceiling and the top of the reactor.

_Hmpf. When I get the info I want… You lowlifes will die._

The figure formed a smug smile and chuckled under his breath.

"… Is it me or there was someone else here?" Harp Note suddenly asked Rock Man.

"Huh? Eh… Dunno. War Rock: can you pick anything up?"

"… No. Nothing."

"Pororon! I can't, either." Harp added.

"Guess I'm over-imaging things… This silence and this blackness are enough to spook anyone into believing this place is a ghost city haunted by remorseful spirits…" She trailed off.

"Come on, Harp Note… You've seen too many horror films. Master had me see them when I was training with him because he wanted me to admit they were silly things… He claimed all monsters designs were cheap and laughable…" Rock Man formed a weak smile.

"Yeah. I always thought that about horror and terror films. And the alien designs were somewhat lame, too… They always tried to make them look scary with all those teeth but they failed at giving you that sensation. They rather looked like an attempt to invent a new carnivorous dinosaur in my opinion…" Lartes laughed.

"Hah. I wouldn't be surprised if they all sought inspiration in the drawings of dinosaurs." Harp Note giggled.

"Yeah… They're so predictable, really…" Rock Man chuckled.

"Let's go back, Rock Man! Tabuu will be hitting the next target at any moment now!" Harp Note rallied.

"Roger!"

They both ran out and failed to spot the same figure spying on them from inside of a burn out house.

_Hmpf. Laugh while you can… You lowlifes will soon experience the fear which comes before death… With two eyesores out of the way, my plan can proceed and I will retrieve my tribe's ultimate power…!_

The figure laughed under his breath…


	10. Chapter 10: Factory

**Chapter 10: Factory**

18:18 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday August the 31st…

"… I see. So he got away with the data on the fusion reactor located in the repulsive Underground City… I should really speed up the dismantling of that place if I want to cleanse it from the "ghosts" roaming there. The "ghosts" of those who suffered at the hands of those criminals…"

"Calm down, Boss… It's very possible that our guy is headed for the factories in SS3 to try to figure a method to speed up P – series robots construction…"

"Yeah. And I guess he's gonna show up any moment now."

"Subaru and Misora found out that Tabuu has designed some kind of barriers for resurrected "Darkloids" which counter any attack but end up breaking if hit repeatedly with Breaker attacks…"

"Good!"

"But the guy claimed he'd quadruple their resistance, too."

"Crap."

Lartes and Vadous were talking inside of the command bridge and Vadous looked somewhat unpleased at the news.

"Can't be helped… I should try to focus on digging out the bloody schematics, too! I dunno where I stored them. I really should've set up a system of folders organized by year and month…!" Vadous cursed.

"We are not perfect, Boss…" Lartes reminded him.

"I knew that, but sometimes…" He scratched the back of his head.

"Don't try to rush it all." Lartes advised.

"Yeah, yeah… Where are Subaru and Misora, though?"

"In Observation Deck #04… They're resuming the talk I interrupted."

"Ah. Fine." Vadous smiled.

18:23 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So, like we were saying before… Do you think Luna – chan has a crush on you, Subaru – kun?"

"_Iinchou_? She always claims _I_ don't interest her and that she only cares about "Rock Man – sama" yet I know she does worry about us. But I wouldn't describe that as a "crush"… I'd rather say admiration, Misora – chan…"

"Hmmm… Yeah. Guess admiration fits better."

Subaru and Misora were resuming their earlier talk as they looked out at the planet beneath them: War Rock was swinging the air in silence while Harp looked amused.

"It's not like I'm jealous, Subaru – kun. We're all friends and we share a Brother Band, don't we?" Misora reminded him.

"Yeah… I still feel silly for what I did after the Gemini Spark incident and how you got into danger trying to help War Rock…" He admitted with a sigh.

"Don't worry. I was also acting in a risky manner back when Empty was using me to find the Mu Continent." She patted his back.

"Ah… Yeah… We're not perfect, yeah. We've all made some mistakes from time to time, too…" Subaru formed a weak smile.

"And if that Tabuu guy thinks he can get away with making me sweat then he's gonna regret it dearly." She giggled.

"Huh! Sure, sure…" Subaru looked slightly nervous.

"By the way… Are you looking forward to starting middle school?"

"Of course! I'm sure I'll do just fine." Subaru smiled.

"Good! And whatever happens, I'm not quitting my contract with Okudama Studios. Take that, ugly competency!"

Subaru let out weak laughter while Misora made a challenging gesture…

18:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Pom, pom, porom… Let's see… Yessir! This place is the remains of the half-dismantled P – series production factory. Heh, heh, heh. And I'll make sure to study it to make sure I can speed up my own factory's production ratio… Catch me if you can, gentlemen! My new envoys are waiting to challenge you…"

Tabuu showed up inside of a building which was missing the ceiling and was exposed to a downpour: all equipment inside had rusted and had long become dysfunctional: some half-assembled P – series robots parts could be seen standing in a row next to a half-built carrier ship and fighter ships pending construction.

"My, my! Construction was halted in a very rushed and sudden manner: there are five factories on this planet and I know three of them are totally dismantled, this one is 25% dismantled while the fifth one is 90% dismantled… I came just in time to find this. But _aibou_ has surely deployed a system to check if I'm roaming around… Well then… What are ya waiting for, Vadous? Come at me. You and your beloved collaborators… Heh, heh, heh…" He muttered with obvious amusement.

"Warning. Warning. Intruder detected. Warning. Warning. Intruder detected." An auto-voice rang out.

"Hmmm?"

He turned around to see a Police Wizard facing him: Tabuu chuckled and drew a golden-colored sword over his right hand which he used to slice the Wizard in half.

"Is that all? Oh. Wait. This guy was security! Which means that… Those two will be coming for me… Well then… Let's give them though adversaries, shall we?" He amusedly muttered.

He headed inside of the factory building and waited until he spotted the purple gateway opening: Rock Man and Harp Note rushed out and began to look around.

"Now! Come out, you two!"

"… Intruders detected. Unit Gravity Man's orders state: "immediate disposal of intruders"…"

Gravity Man had a more machine-like appearance to him: his main body was a spheroid split in two with both halves hovering into the air at a short distance between them: his main color was red.

The face was shaped like a dome: four square white teeth which didn't look they could move were set on the lower edge while two brown triangles pointing SW and SE were set on the face: his eyes were round, yellow, and "closed" as evidenced by a horizontal line splitting them in half.

The top part of the head had two circular metallic pieces set one atop the other and two antennae – like extensions as well.

The upper half had a large brownish circular band with short vertical stripes on them as if to mark the boundary between each segment: two cylinders came out from behind the upper half and they had that same circular rotating band on them.

The lower body had a white lower-half-of-a-circle drawing with a small vertical stripe dividing it in two: a white circle with a red arrow was aiming at the SE and it looked like an indicator of something: the body also had that brown rotating band on the upper edge.

His arms were detached from the body and hovered close to the lower edge of the body: they included the shoulders which were metallic gray plus a round white edge aiming NW: the segment inside of that was colored in a brownish color.

The arms and forearms were shaped like two cone-like bases with two round rotating brown bands on the middle section

These ended in three metallic claw-like extensions.

The final part to be seen were three metallic pieces which diminished in size as they stepped downwards: the third segment had a pyramidal end.

"Hmpf. Save the machine talk. Flash Man – sama can do it alone."

Flash Man's face had no mouth or nose drawn into them and was a gray metallic piece instead: the area around the sides of the head and the jaw was colored navy blue: his eyes did have irises but were red in color: the top of his helmet had a general tear shaped with the upper section being colored yellow.

Flash Man's armor's main color was navy blue: a small cavity shaped like an arch was built on the front of his armor while two small greenish spots could be spotted on the chest area: two curved handle-like metallic tubes were set on his back, too plus two shirt collar – like formations the upper edge of with was colored metallic gray.

His shoulders were shaped as round spheroids: the middle section had a silver metallic band circling it plus a yellow dome-like form: the arms were colored black and, like most "Darkloids", didn't have elbows: the forearms were covered by a partial dagger-like armor which only covered the upper part being colored blue with silver edges: the forearm had a gray metallic armlet set on the wrist as well.

His emblem was set on the furthest edge of the forearm and consisted on a bright yellow star with four spikes set over a dim yellow background.

The body below the upper torso and legs was colored black until the knees where his boots began: the only special trait about them was a metallic gray triangle aiming downwards on each one plus the front edge of the boots was tinted in white. "More "Darkloids"…!" Rock Man cursed.

"Che!" Harp Note cursed.

"And now…" Tabuu muttered.

He snapped his fingers: yellow circles opened on the ground to make those cylinders filled with circuitry boards come out in different heights and angles: they ignited and formed a "Dimensional Area" which sealed the factory off.

"These "Dimensional Converters" sure are useful to keep visitors away while you're busy… Heh, heh, heh."

"Gravity Drive."

"Neon Light!"

"Gua~h!"

"Yikes!"

Gravity Man didn't move from his position yet he was able to form a gravitational shaft which glued Rock Man to the ground: he then lifted his arms and made him crash with the "ceiling" of the shaft: he aimed the arms downwards to make him meet the ground.

"Welcome to my gravitational Hell."

Flash Man pressed his right hand into the ground and created a small dome of yellowish electricity which travelled across the ground: Harp Note dodged it just in time.

"H-Harp… Note…! Give me a… hand… please…!" Rock Man called out between groans.

"You lowlife's opponent is me! Neon Light! Neon Light! Neon Light! Neon Light! Mwah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

"Che! Holy Panel, Super Barrier!"

Harp Note had to shield herself from the volley of Neon Lights while Rock Man was struggling to break free of the "gravitational Hell": he cursed and tried using his buster, but all shots bounced off the walls and had null effect: Gravity Man kept on tossing him up and down.

"C-crap…! Someone…! Blood! Gimme a hand!"

"Useless." Gravity Man proclaimed.

"Yeah? I wonder about that!"

BLAM!

"Gu… Ga… Gah… Guh…!"

"Saved…!"

"Why, you~!"

Blood Shadow had showed up behind Gravity Man and shot his shotgun at zero – range thus inflicting damage and cancelling the "gravitational Hell" where Rock Man had been trapped at.

"Hmmm… A bit unfair… Let's add one more to the roster. This one should do…" Tabuu chuckled under his breath.

"Hah! Morons. Drill Man – sama will do it!"

Drill Man didn't have much of a "face" per se given how his eyes were set inside of two small rectangular holes with a nose-like formation between them.

He seemed to be over a meter and eighty tall: his chest's main color was red but the area around the stomach and below was colored orange: his upper body ended in a thin cylinder-shaped extension: his emblem's edge was yellow and its drawing was simple diagonal lines crossing through it starting at the SW and ending at the NE:

A small cone-shaped drill was set above his head and he had what looked like two halves of a drill's body set on his shoulders set aiming slightly downwards: his arms' "skin" was colored black and they had a small orange-like ring just before the wrists: two drills with a red circular support were placed where the hands should be at.

His waist had a round metallic piece which looked like it was part of the main drill body as well: his legs were colored black with some pale rectangles set forming a row and running down their sides until the feet started.

His feet had pale brown-like boots with two halves of a drill's body set on the front and rear of each one: the feet base was red and ended in drill-shaped feet aiming forward with a smaller drill aiming backwards.

"Reinforcements…! Bothersome Tabuu…!" Blood Shadow cursed.

"Why, you…! Delete! Delete! Delete!" Gravity Man intoned.

"Che. I'll handle this robot! Rock Man! Try to handle that drill!"

"Yeah! Leave it up to me: I remember this guy's moves!"

"Boast while you can! Triple Drill!"

Drill Man compacted into a two-end-drill and then jumped into the air while summoning another two small drills to accompany him: they dived towards Rock Man who was trying to dodge them and he managed to hit Drill Man's exposed body with the Sword Fighter X Battle Card followed by the Break Saber X Battle Card: Drill Man growled something and drove into the concrete ground.

"Tunnel Crusher!"

He suddenly emerged from beneath Rock Man and plunged his drill into his back: Rock Man didn't yell and merely jumped towards the ground while gripping Drill Man's right arm with his left hand so as to drive the Drill Arm X Battle Card into him.

"Gua~h! You lowlife~!"

"Cheap." Rock Man grinned.

"DIE~!"

"Nope. Giga Card, Gorgon Eye!"

Ophiucus Queen showed up on the field and shot a continuous laser at Drill Man's exposed chest thus piercing through him and making him explode while roaring.

"One down!"

"Ugh… Guh… Gah… D-delete… Delete…!"

"Shut up. Light of Saint!"

Blood Shadow had given Gravity Man quite a fight as evidenced by his multiple wounds: Queen Virgo descended into the field and projected her rotating spears of light which hit Gravity Man 8 times in a row before deleting him with a bang.

"C-crap… Neon… Light!"

"Dragon Sky GX!"

Dragon Sky, the AM Sage, appeared on the field and formed a tornado made up of countless green leaves: its power was more than enough to destroy Flash Man.

"Good! All that's left is getting inside of that." Rock Man grinned.

"Sadly… While you guys were playing around with my pawns… I already got all the info I desired." Tabuu let out as he flew out of the factory building and shrugged.

"Why are you always stalling for time when you know we can't beat that armor yet?" Blood Shadow demanded.

"It's not fun to be overwhelmingly powerful. I'd desire to have a more intense battle in which you can actually harm me. That'd be way fairer, don't you think so?" Tabuu teased.

"Hmpf. Maybe. But I don't like men who make girls sweat. So don't be surprised if I go all out on you." Harp Note signaled him with her right hand's middle finger.

"My, my… Bring it on." Tabuu challenged.

"Hah! I'm not silly enough to fall for that." Harp Note replied as she lowered the right arm and made it lean against the right side of her body's torso.

"Hmmm… That pose looks ideal for a poster." He teased.

"You pervert!" She snapped at him.

"My, my. That's some language."

"Come here!" She growled.

"Sadly, Ms. Lioness, other stuff recalls my attention. Maybe you'll meet me in a rather freezing spot next time around? Beware of the summer flu and of the Saboteur Tribe. Bye!"

He deactivated the "Dimensional Area" and flew upwards before vanishing out of sight while his laughter echoed around the artificial island's surface.

"That pervert…! He'll pay for that!"

"Sure, sure." Rock Man and Blood Shadow muttered.

"Did ya say something?" She suddenly asked.

"No, no!"

"Ya act like twins, even." She grinned.

"Can't be helped. I was supposed to act like I was him!" Blood Shadow defended himself.

"And he did a rather convincing acting, too." Rock Man added with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Whatever. Let's go back. I feel tired." She shrugged.

"_Hai_~…" Both muttered.

"Now, now… Hibiki. Don't take out your frustration on them because they're not to blame for that." Vadous told her over the radio.

"I know. But I sometimes feel like I should."

"That won't do. Maria began like that."

"E~H? That tyrant began like that? Taking out frustration on people she found annoying?" She gasped.

"Yeah. Envy, lust, frustration, hunger for power… They can make anyone become a tyrant. History has taught us this. So be careful about what you think of the world, Hibiki. Don't make the same mistakes the previous generation did. Learn from them. And move on forward. That's what humanity does with each passing generation."

"… I understand. I'm sorry. I'll think it again." She formed a weak smile.

Rock Man and Blood Shadow exchanged a glare before Rock Man brought a hand to his chin.

_Huh… A cold place, he meant to say, then? Where? Siberia? The North Pole? Antarctica? Or Alaska? Dunno…! Where is Tabuu headed to?_


	11. Chapter 11: Freezing blackness

**Chapter 11: Freezing blackness**

09:09 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday September the 1st…

"… Ta-ta-dan… Pom, pom, pom, porom… I'm the King of the world! Heh, heh, heh. This rhyme fits my character, I'd rather say!"

"Freeze!"

"Buruo~! That's as far as ya come!"

"Hmmm? My, my. Super Hero – sama and Bull Wannabe…"

"Who the heck are ya calling a "Bull Wannabe", hmmm? Buruo~!"

"Don't mind the guy, Ox Fire."

Tabuu had been floating through a metallic corridor filled with ice formations and being unlit somewhere when Acid Ace and Ox Fire suddenly showed up in front of him: Tabuu taunted Ox Fire while Acid Ace didn't mind it.

"Roger! Get ready! Ox Fire!"

"Wait, Gonta!"

"Too bad."

Ox Fire breathed in and then exhaled a torrent of flames which hit Tabuu but caused no damage at all: Tabuu hummed a tune while Ox Fire gasped and stepped back: Acid Ace sighed in defeat.

"How many times do I have to tell you his armor is invulnerable to most attacks?" Acid Ace grumbled.

"Uh! Sorry, Akatsuki – san! I got excited…"

"Buro~! Think! Ya have a head for something, Gonta!" Ox grumbled.

"Wha~t?" Ox Fire grumbled.

"No good." Acid muttered.

"Behave yourself!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Ox Fire apologized.

"So! Will you guys show me what you're capable of?" Tabuu taunted while sounding amused.

"Yeah! Take this! Capture Program!" Acid Ace announced.

"Hmmm?"

Acid Ace cocked his gun and then shot a yellow ring which formed around Tabuu and grew in thickness before creating two shields in the front and rear ends: Tabuu merely moved his head around.

"My, my… That's some nice toy you have, Acid Ace. Sadly… The only thing you've managed to do is to amuse me." He shrugged.

"I wonder about that. Reverse Polarity!"

"What!"

The "cage" generated bluish electricity which then struck Tabuu's armor's joins at the shoulders and hips plus the neck: they shone with a red glow and hissed as they released air: they then made some mechanical sounds and began to unlock.

"C-crap! Vadous found the files…! Ugh… Can't be taken down here: the climax is about to start…! Come! Pawns! Spark Man! Freeze Man! Laser Man!" Tabuu announced between hissed.

"Crap." Acid Ace cursed.

"More "Darkloids"…?" Ox Fire wondered.

"Hah! I'm Spark Man – sama: I take out the trash with a clean slash to then recycle it!"

"Heh, heh, heh. This place is like _Field Power Bonus_ to me, Freeze Man, master of cold…"

"Laser Man – sama's power, granted by Tabuu – sama, will destroy these weaklings…"

"Spark Man! Disable this thing!"

"Roger!"

Spark Man could be close to a meter and seventy tall but was rather massive.

A dome-like shape formed over his upper body and below the head: the head was shaped like a circle and had orange armor over it plus a small tooth-like piece forming beneath the forehead and extending until the spot where a person's nose would be at: the head also had a metallic piece shaped like the "L" character turned 90º to the right so as to aim northwards.

His eyes' irises were red and he had no visible mouth:

His main body was shaped like a thick disc and colored orange with two yellow bands plus three layers of metallic armor running down the sides: a hollow circular line spread across the front face of it while having two green bulb-like objects set on it plus his emblem which consisted on two simplistic yellow lances crossing each other and set over a blue background.

His shoulders were orange-colored spheroids and his arms were colored navy blue: two orange cylinders were placed there the hands would be at thus allowing him to carry large metallic spears emerging from the front and short ones from the rear of each cylinder: the outwards-facing sides of the cylinders had yellow curved bands spanning their total length set on them.

The lower body was colored navy blue plus blue spheroids placed where the ankles would be at with legs spreading from them until the knees, where the boots began: a small yellow-colored piece which was reminiscent of the "L" character turned 90º to the left: it had a small navy blue dot set close to the upper edge of it.

His boots were colored orange and ended in round platform-like formations: the central band of it was colored yellow with three green-colored drawings starting at the upper edge and spanning until the lower edge: the disc-shaped platform-like feet were decorated with a small navy blue dot set on the front of them.

"Icicle Fall!"

Freeze Man's body was made of ice and had armor over the torso, arms, forearms, and legs below the knees.

His head was geometrically shaped and he had two blue eyes sans pupils on them, a nose and a mouth: two small ice spears emerged from where his ears should be at.

His torso's armor had a greenish circle with two spears coming out from the sides and his emblem (a white diamond with a hollow spot in the middle of it and surrounded by a black background) drawn upon it: the rest of the armor was navy blue in coloring while both the upper and lower edges were colored using greenish coloring.

Three ice spears shaped like prisms emerged from each shoulder and had greenish edges surrounding them plus a thicker one emerging from above each palm: the armor ended around the wrist and had a greenish edge.

Three small spears formed on the outward faces of each boot and they followed the same coloring pattern as in the upper body: two small vertical rectangles were also placed near the lower rim of the boots: their soils were also greenish in coloring.

"Star Breaker Laser!"

Laser Man had a diamond-shaped head which had a small white slit surrounded by a purple rim.

A blue-colored vertical stripe crossed through it from the top and two more formed under the slit while the top of his head had a blue rectangle-like shape: each side of the head had a descending line which then branched into two and kept on running down both sides of his head.

He had two shirt-neck objects near the neck and a slightly curved stripe directly underneath the neck: another two vertical stripes were set on the sides.

Two slightly diagonal lines originated from the neck and ran until the knees.

A couple of lines shaped like ascending and descending triangles were set above and below his chest emblem.

The two main lines had two horizontal stripes set above and below the emblem connecting them: a thin and colorless vertical slit ran down the upper body through the middle of chest.

Another two diagonal thin lines marked the beginning of the shoulders from which two arms originated.

They had blue stripes running down its middle section from above and below before they formed a circle around the wrist.

Two black-colored gloved hands of five fingers each came out: each finger had two thin circular stripes above and below the middle section of them.

His main body ended in a slightly circular opening from which his two legs came out: they each had two vertical parallel stripes running down until the knee: each foot only had three fingers shaped like claw fingers and the rear part of each foot had a small ramp-like shape attached to it.

There was a triangle-shaped stripe set around the base of the fingers with another blue stripe around their base.

Two slightly curved extensions formed on his back slightly beneath the head: they had a general Alphabet U letter shape.

Each one had blue stripe running down its perimeter: these extensions ended into square openings: the insides of them were colored purple.

His chest emblem was a series of vertical stripes of several colors which stood for the light's specters: ultraviolet was set as the leftmost and it climbed up the scale until it reached the infrared.

"Buro~! Ox Tackle!"

"No! That guy's Ice-elemental! You're weak to ice and water!"

Freeze Man had summoned some icicles which began to rain down on the field and several of them hit Ox Fire, who shrugged them off and tried to tackle him.

"Che!"

Acid Ace dodged some meteors which Laser Man had summoned by opening a "gateway" of sorts in the air using his rear-mounted lasers.

"Spark Ball!"

Spark Man, on the other hand, formed two orange spheroids with a central green circle and four yellow antennae coming out of the NW, NE, SW and SE corners of it: the spheroids began to draw the energy of the "cage program" so Tabuu's armor joints turned red and locked up again: he sighed in relief and hovered backwards.

"Spark Man! Follow me." He commanded.

"By your orders!" He made a reverence.

"Freeze Man! Laser Man! Delete them."

"Roger!"

Tabuu flew past the two Raid Troop members and being followed by Spark Man, who tackled Acid Ace into the ground so that then Laser Man used his massive hands to grip his neck.

"Cross Laser!"

"GUAH!"

"Ice Tower!"

"BURUO~!"

Laser Man formed a yellow-colored laser attack shaped like a cross which hit Acid Ace at zero-range thus forming a wound on his armor: Freeze Man smiled and formed spears of ice which emerged from the ground and drove into Ox Fire's armor, inflicting double damage.

"This ugly guy…! Wing Blade!"

"What!"

"Buruo~! Ox Tackle!"

"Ice…!"

Acid Ace ignited his thrusters and drove Laser Man into one of the metallic walls, leaving a hit mark on it while Ox Fire did the same to Freeze Man.

"Why, you…!" Both cursed.

"So! What does your master seek in this abandoned Antarctica outpost which belonged to Anaya?" Acid Ace questioned.

"We don't need to know! Be deleted!" Laser Man shot back.

"Mountain Spear!"

"Hmpf! Fire Columns!"

Freeze Man formed some metallic spears which he shot towards Ox Fire but they bounced off his armor: he then roared and began to glow as he went into a rampage and moved around while punching the ground and forming columns of fire out of the spots he hit with his right fist: Freeze Man gasped and seemed to be taken aback by the move.

"Too fast!" He gasped.

"Cross Laser!"

"Lock On… Long Sword!"

Acid Ace locked on Laser Man and hit him twice with his Long Sword thus intercepting his would-be attack.

"Take this! Spade Magnets Galaxy Advance!"

Spade Magnets formed on the field and hit Laser Man with his swords twice thus inflicting further damage but not paralyzing him: Laser Man tried to punch Acid Ace but he jumped towards the right and dodged the slow move.

"I see. Status Guard… Like Sirius… Tabuu's careful!" Acid Ace guessed.

"Oof!"

"Take this!"

Ox Fire had moved right in front of Freeze Man and hit him with his right punch to then tackle him against a wall: Freeze Man growled and suddenly hovered into the air to then begin summoning icicles which didn't seem to affect Ox Fire.

"I've got Super Armor! I won't flinch from attacks which aren't elementally weak to me!" Ox Fire told him.

"Che! Bothersome meddling guy!"

"Twin Lasers!"

"What!"

Acid Ace loaded up energy and shot two twin lasers which ran down the corridor and met Laser Man head-on, inflicting damage to him but he didn't get stunned or anything given his "Status Guard" ability: he instead warped and appeared right in front of Acid Ace.

"Delete~!" He roared.

"Slow, gramps."

Acid Ace dodged the fist and then slashed the rear area of his body twice before shooting a Daba Flame Battle Card at that area: Laser Man growled and ran towards Acid Ace only to step into something and get blown into the air before landing, hard, and face-up, into the ground.

"You lowlife… Giga Mine!" He cursed.

"Yeah. Game Over. Strong Swing X!"

Club Strong formed on the corridor and beat Laser Man with several hits of his club before he exploded and was defeated: Ox Fire was moving around madly and not giving Freeze Man a chance to hit him to his increasing annoyance.

"Stay still so I can delete you lowlife~!" He roared.

"No chance, ugly!" Ox Fire shot back.

"Calling on Spark Man! Make Shadow."

Spark Man suddenly appeared inside of the corridor: he intersected his lances to create a flash and then form black-and-white-colored copies of Ox Fire and Acid Ace.

"Go!"

"Buruo~! This is cheating!"

"Yeah. And cheats aren't allowed. Giza Wheel X!"

The Giza Wheel X bounced off the right wall and hit Freeze Man on his waist area while he was still recovering: he growled and formed a grimace but didn't have time to recover as Acid Ace shot a Stealth Laser X at him which inflicted double damage.

"Uwo~h! Glory to Tabuu – sama~!" He uttered before he blew up into a thousand bits.

"Freeze Man! You lowlifes!" Spark Man cursed.

"Kogarashi X!"

"Wha~t? NO WAY~!"

The greenish tornado inflicted multiple-hit-damage to Spark Man while Ox Fire tackled him and finished him off.

"I guess Tabuu didn't program high HP into this one." Acid Ace calmly deduced as he turned around to face his "shadow".

"Buruo~! How do we take these down?" Ox Fire asked.

"Hmmm… Gotcha. Use this one!"

Acid Ace tossed a Mega Card at Ox Fire, who picked it and gasped but nodded in understanding.

"Apollon Flame X!"

Acid Ace ran away to make the "shadows" follow him but that was when Ox Fire used the Mega Card's "Sun Flare" attack to scorch the ground with them standing on it: the "shadows" were silently deleted and both sighed in relief.

"Phew. We made it through alive, somehow." He muttered.

"Let's go catch the guy!"

"Yeah. I wanna know what he was after."

Both ran down the corridor and ended up in a vast room which seemed to be missing a large structure given the marks on the ground and some dust patterns around it.

"He took whatever was here. Vadous! Any ideas?"

"The fusion reactor… That model should be still functional… He must've formed a space-time gateway to forcefully take it with him without bothering to properly dismantle it. Spark Man surely was necessary to examine the electrical systems and test if they were still alive…"

"So! He's finally found what he needs to power up his HQ. And I think that the only thing left for us to do is to find him." Acid Ace guessed.

"Buruo~! If he dares to try to harm _iinchou_, he'll have to get through me first!" Ox Fire exclaimed.

"That'd be easy for the guy taking into account what he can do."

"… This is Mr. Universe, broadcasting from D – Nation. I thereby announce that the newest edition of the Gourmet Town contest with the prize being a kiss from Ai – chan!" A voice boomed out.

"Whoa! I'm not missing this!"

"Please step through the backdoor."

"Wait, Gonta!"

Ox Fire ran towards the far wall and crashed head-on with it, ending up dizzied and then collapsing into the ground: Acid Ace slapped his forehead.

"Heh, heh, heh… _No pain_, _no gain_!" Tabuu's voice laughed.

"Tabuu! You moron!" Acid Ace cursed.

"_Bye – bye_, Clark Kent – sama~! And dream of ginger beef, Ushijima~!"


	12. Chapter 12: Codename:  Epsilon

**Chapter 12: Codename: Epsilon**

21:11 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday September the 1st…

"… Huff. No dice, Boss. I've been trying to track any signatures which could give away the presence of Tabuu's HQ given his use of the nuclear fusion reactors but I haven't picked any. He could be under the sea or inside of a mountain for all we know."

"Che. Bothersome mouse…"

"Calm down, Boss… Not even that guy is perfect. He's bound to make a mistake…"

"We said that regarding the trio and they haven't acted yet."

"I know, but… They could be bidding their time."

"Whatever…"

"Cool it down…"

"Agh! I can't stand it anymore! I want something to happen!"

Lartes and Vadous were discussing again inside of the command bridge: Vadous looked exasperated while Lartes was trying to calm him down somehow.

"Ahem, ahem. Welcome to Evil Pepe's Show! Are ya hearing me, ya Langley jerks? I know ya are: ya intercepted my phone years ago and ya try to route me to other places to shake me off but Evil Pepe won't give up so easily, no sir!" A voice suddenly rang out through the speakers.

"What the…? That ain't Omega: he's still shut down." Vadous frowned and looked surprised.

"And Sigma has learned to not to troll, so… It can't be him, either… So who is it…?" Lartes trailed off.

"Moon Disaster…?" Vadous wondered.

"… Gotcha! I knew it! Ya are the CIA guy who kicked me out 8 eight years ago: I recognize your silly accent! Get ready!"

"Oi, oi…" Vadous looked surprised.

"Hmmm? Ah! The guy came! Calderón came! Get ready! General Campestre will overthrow ya and form the United States of Mexico with me as its first historical president!" The voice kept on saying.

"Calderón? But I thought he'd been president on the early 2000s… This guy lives on a cave or what?" Lartes looked surprised.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah! I did it! Calderón is dethroned! I am the King of the World! Bow before me! Hic!" The man laughed.

"… He's drunk." Vadous grumbled.

"And he's gotta be a radio _aficionado_ who picked up our frequency at random out of the blue…"

"… Oho. Found ya, Alfred! Ya owe me five bucks! Hand them over or I'll call the Secret Service! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

"Let's shut this guy off." Vadous fumed.

He interacted with the keyboard but suddenly frowned as he looked up some information.

"… This can't be… The signal doesn't come from Earth! It's being broadcasted through a series of orbiter satellites across the Solar System starting in the Kuiper Belt… There's a space-time tunnel opened beyond that which seems to cross through a large gap of the Milky Way… Which means that… It's Tabuu!" Vadous realized.

"… Heh, heh, heh. Was my Mexican accent convincing enough, _aibou_? You must be feeling bored up there! So I'm using this signal to send over some of my pawns. Blood Shadow and Sigma will have opponents to handle this evening… It's their turn to shine, too!" Tabuu chuckled.

"Tabuu! You jerk!" Vadous cursed.

"My, my… Anyway… I'll leave this channel open. Try to trace me back at the origin, Holmes!" He challenged.

"Hmpf! I'd done that even if you hadn't challenged me!"

"Heh, heh, heh… Coming… Let's have them play inside of the mainframe given how it's so wide and spacious... You could play basketball there, too!" Tabuu laughed.

"Warning. Four strong signatures riding along data transmission signal: they will intrude the mainframe in 30 seconds."

"Engage firewalls: max level! Security systems: all on! Blood! Sigma! Cyber In into the "Cybernetics" and handle them!" Vadous commanded.

"Roger!"

"Come at full power!"

"In the meanwhile, I'll treat you guys to an explosive exclusive piece of news." He teased.

"What?" Vadous demanded.

"The police have arrested a 20 – year old man who was stalking Hibiki and sending her threatening letters. If you don't believe me, check out the _TK Journal_." Tabuu let out.

"If you quote a journal, then it's gotta be true. But what happens to Hibiki only involves her and the lawyers." Vadous shrugged.

"Heh, heh, heh. Good reply, _aibou_… Oho. It'd seem there are another two eager for some blood, so they're headed there as backup units in case the first two were to de defeated… Dancing dancer of dances is going to date fighting fighter of fighters." He laughed at his joke.

"Very original." Lartes drily told him.

"I knew that the topic of medics not having humor was not an exaggeration after all…" Tabuu sounded amused.

"Hmpf. Whatever." Lartes scoffed.

"Coming…! Enjoy~!"

"Warning. Infiltration detected. Intruders contained by Level 1 Firewall Defense…"

"Nyah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h! Festival, festival! Bloody slaughter! Brat! Killer Man – sama is gonna chop you lowlife up! Get ready! I'm invincible~! Nyah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

"Heh, heh, heh… Cosmo Man – sama will bury this fool into the "Dark" of the Universe…"

"Shut up."

"Come at full power!"

Blood Shadow was facing his opponent, Killer Man, inside of the "Cybernetics" of the HQ.

Killer Man was shaped like an _oni_ from Japanese folklore given how his "skin" was just combusting grayish flames.

He had normal eyes with black shapes drawn below them and teeth but a maniac smile was drawn upon his face: part of his "hair" scaled down to form a nose and two small red "horns" emerged from the top of his head.

His face's skin was red in color while the edges of his face were colored purple: his emblem was that same green eye set against a white background.

His main body was shaped like a sphere colored purple, and having a green eye with red edges drawn on the chest: the lower half of it was colored gray.

His shoulders had two curved axe-like formations attached to them and he carried three purple armlets over his forearms and wrists interconnected by a metallic slabs chain.

His legs had four circle-shaped pieces of armor starting at the hips and stopping around knee which progressively decreased in height on each leg: his feet were curved-shaped blades with two reddish curved lines drawn on their surface: the upper one was shorter in height than the lower one.

He carried a scythe with a black stick and red body with a purple-edged green eye set on it.

To sum it up: he looked like the Grim Reaper himself and gave off a sinister vibe.

"Hah! I'll be the one to silence you lowlife!"

"Hmpf. That silly design is laughable."

"Yeah? That's my motto!"

Cosmo Man's eyes were simply black and surrounded by skin while his nose and mouth were covered by a thin layer of golden armor.

Four lines converged on the forehead where a small diamond was set: the head's upper portion was exposed and it had the typical black "skin" covering it.

Most of his upper torso was encompassed by golden-colored armor which also covered the shoulders: it ended around the chest where the emblem was set at: it was a simple four-pointed blue star drawn against a black background.

The design of the armor included two thick white lines emerging NW and NE from his emblem and curving as they ran parallel to the neck and past the shoulders.

Another two thin blue lines formed from the east and west sides of the emblem and climbed upwards: thus diving the armor into two uneven portions: the lower one was short in length while the upper one was larger.

The armor also covered both sides of the neck and continued above the head where it expanded into two ear-like extensions having blue round dome-like pads.

The arms had a blue ring around the elbow and each ring was complemented by fin-shaped extensions aiming upwards towards the shoulders.

A pale blue transparent ring was also set atop each wrist and the wrists had blue armor covering them: the fingers were also covered by the golden armor.

The plain black-skinned feet (the fingers of which couldn't be seen) had blue armor on their ankles as well and a golden-colored diamond-like object set slightly above the ankle: this object had a blue-colored triangle-like pattern aiming upwards set slightly above of where they began at.

Two thick white lines extended from above the end of those diamonds and travelled towards the lower torso area until they met an oval-shaped object with a brown edge and metallic interior: two small rectangles were drawn on the north and south edges, too.

Another two thick lines came out from the NW and NE edges and met the chest emblem by connecting the SW and SE edges, too.

Lastly, a large blue transparent ring was set around his body in a 45º angle and aiming to the SE from around the same height as the right shoulder until the left forearm.

"Hell's Sickle!"

"Noised Wizard X!"

"Cosmo Buster!"

"Hah! Take this!"

Killer Man swung the scythe towards Blood Shadow and shot a slice of energy towards him but a Noised Wizard showed up behind him and slashed his back thus distracting him: Cosmo Man produced some golden planetoids surrounded by rings which he shot in a row towards Sigma but he merely bounced them off with his sword back at Cosmo Man who merely smiled.

"Counter Barrier!"

"Crap!"

The Counter Barrier showed up and the planetoids bounced back at Sigma but he swung his sword to change their course: the whole thing became a dead-man's-volley game until Sigma aimed for the ceiling and made the three planetoids crash into the ground around Cosmo Man, distracting him for a few seconds' time.

"Sorry for the wait… Shade Man – sama has descended."

"Hah! Swallow Man – sama is going to sweep through them."

"Crap! The reinforcements…!" Blood Shadow cursed.

"Who cares? Come at full power! It's over! I'm gonna beat ya!" Sigma taunted.

"Hmpf! I'll pick the brat: it must be juicer."

"The black guy's my target, then!"

"Come!" Both challenged.

Shade Man's main body color was purple and navy blue: he had an upper body colored purple which ended half-way around the torso: the rest of the body was colored navy blue.

His head was set inside of a neck-like formation with fangs protruding from their upper edge while pointing forward.

The interior of it was partly colored blood red: he had a cone-like object at the lower edge of his chin: the outer edge of the head was colored purple and two golden-colored bat-like ears formed at the sides of it.

His eyes' irises were red and looked menacing: he had a moustache-like pattern below his nose which was interrupted in the middle of it. The pattern left two straight lines aiming SW and SE: his mouth had fangs.

His arms had a pattern resembling the Alphabet "F" character mirrored drawn on his forearms: his hands were claws, too, and had four claw-fingers on them colored pale white.

The upper body had two small round holes with a golden rim set to the edges of the torso and beneath the shoulders: two slightly curved golden-colored pieces were set above each shoulder while a small square piece was set at the base of the neck: it was colored black and had three vertical stripes drawn into it.

His round emblem was colored golden and had five pyramidal-like buttons emerging from its rim and aiming South, NW, NE, SW and SE.

Two golden lines formed at the sides of it and marked the border between the upper body and the rest of the body.

The drawing inside was two curved halves aiming for each other colored purple plus a small peak-like object on the middle of it: the space between the three drawings was painted in blood red color.

His feet had three large finger-claws colored white: each of his legs had two white triangle-shaped patterns aiming upwards set around the knee.

"Heh, heh, heh… I'll suck your energy, brat."

Swallow Man's helmet design was peculiar: the central part was colored red while the sides were colored blue: the sides extended upwards and formed a shape reminiscent of "horns" while his eyes' irises' color was purple.

His upper torso had two red plaques of armor over his usual blue armor: his shoulders and arms before the elbow were exposed, revealing the black "skin".

His forearms design included a gray-colored fund extending from around the elbow until the palm: a yellow diamond-shaped object was set in top of each palm plus a small blue-colored piece reminiscent of a bird's elongated wings: his fingers were covered in white "gloves".

Two blue wings with some vertical white stripes on them formed behind of his body as well.

The sides of his main body were colored black together with a thin red stripe which marked the border with the central body, colored white as well.

His boots began around the knees and were colored navy blue: they ended in two-fingered feet which seemed to be a bird's talons.

His emblem, drawn into his ear pads, was a blue-colored bird's silhouette as seen from the sides: its wings were open in a 45º angle and the drawing seemed to suggest movement.

"Heh! I'm faster than a jet!"

"Wait! That brat's MY prey!" Killer Man grumbled.

"This giant is MY prey!" Cosmo Man protested.

"Mine!"

"Mine!"

"Heh. Let them destroy each other." Sigma grinned.

"I doubt that'll happen." Blood Shadow muttered.

"Silence!" Tabuu commanded.

"R-roger, Tabuu – sama!"

"Go all out! No holding back! Two per opponent! Go!"

"That's unfair! Face someone of your size! My blood's boiling!"

"Heh. Some late night entertainment…"

Wolf Forest and Burai suddenly appeared into the "Cybernetics" to the surprise of the invaders.

"The vampire is mine." Burai announced.

"Then I'll have the swallow jerk!" Wolf Forest grinned.

"I rang them up. You're not the only one with reinforcements, Tabuu, and I've decoded 80% of your signal by now. I only need 45 seconds to finish decoding and get to the origin point!" Vadous announced.

"My, my. Bring it on, then."

"Wolf Slash! Wolf Upper!"

"Flying Knuckles!"

"Dancing Blade X!"

"Demon Rings!"

"Hell's Sickle!"

"Cosmo Gate!"

"Crush Noise!"

"Swallow Cutter!"

"… 33 seconds…!" Vadous muttered.

"This is getting as hot as Cuba, it'd seem." Tabuu joked.

"You mean the 1963 Cuba Missile Crisis?" Vadous guessed.

"Correct, Holmes."

"Save your sarcasm for you ugly face. 19 seconds."

"… Hell! Stay still, you brat! I'll slice your neck!"

"No chance, ugly."

"This man…! Accept your fate!"

"Wander in despair and hopelessness!"

"This werewolf wannabe…! I'll blow you up!"

"Try it!"

"T-this MORON…!"

"Hah. You lowlifes are weak."

Killer Man had resorted to swinging his scythe around in a mad manner while Blood Shadow had no trouble dodging: Cosmo Man was trying to hit Sigma with his punches but he was blocking each attack: Swallow Man was fighting Wolf Forest and Shade Man got a beat up from Burai: he groaned.

"10 seconds…!"

"Hot, hot and getting hotter…" Tabuu rhymed.

"Shaddup. 5 seconds…!"

"Behold!"

"What?" Burai wondered.

"What the…! A small planet 194 light-years away from the Solar System which is a frozen and barren ball of ice…! But there's nothing on its surface…!" Vadous exclaimed.

"Europa's Hidden Ocean. Wasn't that one of your passwords which you valued so much?"

"I see! This planet is like Europa, Jupiter's moon! There's an ocean hidden under the crest of ice and you've built your HQ down there, then…!"

"Yeah. And I'll be waiting for you guys to unveil the biggest of surprises…"

"Whatever. Guys! Finish up in there!"

"Roger. Beast Swing X!"

"Gua~h! How could I, Killer Man – sama, lose to a mere brat…? Gua~h1"

"Eat sword!"

"G-guo~h! Glory to… Tabuu - sama~…!"

"The finishing blow, swallow jerk! Wolf Slash! Wolf Upper!"

"T-this JERK…! I'll drag you into Hell…! UWA~h!"

"Hmpf. Go sleep into the casket for 100 years, Dracula wannabe. Hrah!"

"Gu… Ga… Ge… Gra… Gu… GUA~H!"

Blood Shadow had used the Beast Swing X to open a gash on Killer Man's body below the torso armor which deleted him: Sigma drove his sword through Cosmo Man so as to defeat the guy: Wolf Forest formed some grave wounds on Swallow Man which ended up destroying him and Burai cut Shade Man into three using his Laplace Blade.

"For the time being… I'll codename that planet "Epsilon"… And tomorrow we go bring war to you, Tabuu!" Vadous announced.

"War? Heh, heh, heh. You want war, I shall offer you war. Bye!"

"War, huh? Count me in." Burai grinned as he looked at his sword.

"It's decided, then. We go to fight the final battle! Wait for us, Tabuu!"


	13. Chapter 13: Orbital battle

**Chapter 13: Orbital battle**

10:14 AM (Japan Time), Thursday September the 2nd…

"… Real-space exit in… 38 seconds."

"We're almost there…! Epsilon..! The decisive battle's battleground…! And we're going to bring down Tabuu…!"

"Yeah! He's put people's safety at risk and tried to toy with Earth as it was his. We've got to put him down."

"Of course. Sweet."

"Huh? Oh… "Sweet Candy"…?"

"So you're a devour-it-all, Akatsuki?"

"No, Solo. I just can't stop eating these."

"Queen Tia will not like this."

"Queen Tia ain't involved."

"Now, now… Calm down and let's be ready for the hard part."

Subaru, Misora, Shidou, Solo and Lartes were sitting in chairs inside of a metallic room containing a table which had a built-in "Air Display" system and a command console on the south end: the "Air Display" was showing a hologram of planet "Epsilon" which was constantly rotating.

"… Rotational time: 16 hours. Year: 288 days. Furthest distance (Aphelion) from its local Sun: 177 million kilometers… Air composition: 80% water vapor, 15% oxygen, 5% minor gases… Atmospheric pressure: 88.000 kilo PA… Mean radius… 5800 km… Surface area… About 300 million square km… Escape speed… 7.000 km/s… Surface winds speed… 133 km per hour… Average temperature… Minus 59 Celsius…" Black Ace listed.

"Luckily we have designed carbon dioxide filtration masks and our Denpa – Henkan forms make us be energy bodies thus eliminating the need for breathing… I tested that myself during the Brachio Wave incident when I had to dive into the lake..." Subaru muttered.

"… Real-space exit."

The hologram switched to display a live camera feed: cracks had formed on the equator's ice and the shape of something underneath it was clearly visible: it looked like it was waiting to come out as a whole along with other spots across the planet.

"All the players have been gathered, it'd seem! Let's start the show, ladies and gentlemen!" Tabuu's voice boomed out through the speakers while sounding amused.

The camera zoomed to show a detailed area of the equator as the ice began to crack and crumble: jets of steam came out and a diamond made of a random mix of colors began to emerge from the ocean: it was followed by eight metallic curved tooth which seemed to support the diamond structure and then a metallic tower structure several tens of meters tall which included a cone-shaped base with two carved locked doors built into it: the main body had the words _tengoku no tou_ (Heaven's Tower) colored golden drawn into it.

"Heaven's Tower… Now you think you're a God?" Vadous asked with some annoyance.

"Nope! I am but the gatekeeper to Heaven… A fallen angel who has been able to disguise his fall…"

"Whatever. We only need to land and get to you."

"Ah. But that'd be boring! That's why I'll summon my chess pieces using an incantation and make things really interesting. Ever heard of reserve troops?" Tabuu teased.

"Huh? What? Reserve troops, you say…? And you said "armada" yesterday, too… No way! You're bluffing!" Vadous gasped.

"Whether I'm bluffing or not… will become clear in just 10 seconds. That's the time _they_ need to revert into real-space… They've travelled far from remote shipyards… My. I sound like a narrator." Tabuu laughed.

"No way…!" Vadous cursed.

Several purple-colored gateways opened with bright purple flashes of light and a whole spaceship fleet began to surge out of it: they then deployed at different spots around the planet and began shooting a storm of lasers headed for the group.

"Black Ace! Bubble Shielding: Max Power NOW!"

"Roger."

The camera showed a green-colored shield forming between it and the lasers, thus deflecting them.

"Phew. Too close…!"

"It ain't over yet!"

The camera switched to the planet again to show several AAC turrets emerging from beneath the ice all across the planet followed by red lasers which drew a tornado climbing upwards around the Heaven's Tower which reached up to space: a "Dimensional Area" surrounding the whole planet then formed up.

"There. Setup's complete. Come anytime!"

"You lowlife…!" Vadous cursed.

"What do we do?" Solo calmly asked.

"Regarding the "Dimensional Area"… I can easily open it up using an attack from the HQ. The shield can also power up the spears and make them shoot at the ships… But something inside of the "Dimensional Area" is messing with the portal generator: it can't pick any coordinates from the place at all…" Vadous replied as he typed into the keyboard.

"So we've got no choice but to fly there in a spaceship?" Shidou deduced as he lifted his eyebrows.

"Yeah. And we'll need Omega: he's the only one who is skilled enough to make it past that swarm. I need a while to turn him on again: but he tends to be serious when piloting, so… We can keep tabs on him. Lartes: come up here and handle the counter-attacking."

"Roger."

Lartes ran out of the room while War Rock suddenly appeared behind Subaru and patted his right shoulder from behind: Subaru frowned and turned around only to be met with a photo showing Suzuka and Tsukasa apparently in a date.

"Heh, heh, heh. So?"

"… What poor editing." Subaru drily shot back.

"Totally." Shidou added.

"Please… Do you think we're silly?" Misora scoffed.

"Who's that woman?" Solo asked.

"Oho. Ya wanna date her?"

"Shaddup." Subaru snapped at him.

"War Rock…!" Vadous icily warned over the speakers.

"Ops. Eh… Nothing, nothing." He gulped.

"We'll talk once this is over. Get ready."

"She is Suzuka: she's a rising teen star who has a contract with the same studios I do: Okudama Studios." Misora summed up.

"Really… What need is there for this?" Shidou grumbled.

"Everyone's itching to come up with pairings in the forums!" War Rock shrugged.

"Don't copy the "intellectuals" behind those: they just love starting a topic which will stretch for over 100 pages of posts." Vadous fumed.

"Here I am, Boss!"

"Good. I'll go activate Omega. The shuttles' max capacity is 6, so we'll be able to fit you guys without much trouble."

"Mr. Trouble is calling for ya~!" War Rock laughed.

10:49 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Yahoo! I missed being the space cowboy! It's been a while since I last flew in this. But I remember all of my skills and the little tricks I made into this one, Shuttle #7! I renamed it _Thunderbird_! Cool, ain't it?"

"Thunderbird… That's a mythological bird depicted in the ancient tribes of North Ameroupe's Pacific coast… Fitting."

"Thanks, Solo! O. K.! Here they come~!"

"The enemy's fighters…!"

"Let's blow them up!"

"Relax! The Super Hero spirit guides us!"

"Shidou… Spirits don't…"

"Oh. Shut up."

"Claw Man got shut up!"

"Pororon! Ya behave, too."

"… Ga…"

Omega, Solo, Subaru, Misora and Shidou (plus their Wizards) were inside of a small aerodynamic-like shuttle which had two short wings near the rear, a tail wing and a main Plexiglas window plus laser guns mounted on the nose and into the wings: the rear didn't have a visible propulsion system yet the shuttle was moving forward at a constant speed: Omega was sitting in the pilot's seat while the other four were occupying passenger seats set behind his seat.

"Hold on! I'll drive them to meet their bosses." Omega grinned.

He suddenly spun towards the NE in a sharp curved trajectory and headed for the left side of one of the mother-ships while having ten enemy fighters trailing him: he moved up and down plus left and right to dodge their lasers and kept heading for the hull.

"Hop!"

He suddenly pulled the stick downwards to lift and skip the crash by a few centimeters' margin: the enemy fighters couldn't react in time and they crashed one after the other into the hull thus opening a hole at least five meters wide and two tall exposing a lot of circuitry and pipes: one of them was labeled red.

"I knew it! That's the energy feeding pipe for the port lasers! If I blow it up, then this ship loses 50% of its attacking capability plus the energy for the port hangars!" Omega exclaimed.

"Whoa! Cool!" Subaru whistled in surprise.

"Let's toss a mine here and then go visit the fusion engines exhausts: I know a quick method to disable the whole ship."

"This is getting interesting." Solo grinned.

"Fire!"

Omega shot several laser shots into the hole, severing the pipe in some spots and making electricity jump out: the port laser guns shut down and the hangers lost lighting into them: Omega then flew towards the starboard side and hovered below the laser guns in angle where they couldn't be lowered anymore: six enemy fighters headed for them in a square formation.

"Chaff!"

He pressed a green button on the command console: a hatch opened beneath the shuttle and let some debris float out: the fighters broke their formation and began to move around at random: Omega then chased one and shot two precise shots to the north and south of the engine exhaust port: the ship lost control and spiraled towards the hull, opening a small hole there.

"Time Bomb!"

Another hatch opened and a small cylinder with a red blinking LED: Omega speed up heading for the rear of the ship while an explosion became visible behind them and the starboard side was disabled, too.

"Let's say hi to the Exhaust Misters!"

He shot past the mother-ship and then turned around to face the ship's gigantic cylindrical exhausts: each of them was wide and tall enough for the shuttle to fill inside.

"Torpedoes! And let's go towards the next one!"

Omega made the nose open up to reveal nine torpedo tubes built inside of the space: five of them flew out and Omega quickly headed downwards towards another mother-ship about 500 meters downwards.

"… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… KABOOM!"

Indeed: a brutal explosion engulfed a third of the mother-ship and part of the tower supporting the command bridge: the tower and ship suddenly began to be "pulled" by the planet: the turret's bottom hit the command bridge of another mother-ship and the remaining main body kept on falling until it hit the "Dimensional Area" and became a gigantic sphere of energy which expanded across a good deal of it before dying down: the turret eventually crashed as well.

"W-whoa!" Everyone (save Omega and Laplace) uttered.

"So?" He teased.

"Man! You're an ace!" Shidou whistled in admiration.

"Mars Ace, then?" He laughed.

"Oi! Don't steal my motif!" Shidou protested.

They then looked up and to the north where a large greenish bubble could be seen hovering there and repelling the laser blasts from the mother-ships: a green thick laser suddenly shot out and pierced a mother-ship's rear area where the engine was at: it blew up, too, and its remains plunged into the "Dimensional Area" too.

"Boss' aiming ain't bad, either. Out of 21 mother-ships, 8 have been taken down. He can handle the rest as we make our way down to the planet's surface." Omega grinned.

"Say… Won't we be in trouble to dodge the AAC turrets?" Misora suddenly brought up.

"Nope! Boss scanned them and found out that Tabuu had reused the old IFF codes. So he just switched them around and tried to make them hit the tower yet it's too thick to be damaged: he's decided to shut them down and will use them when the "Dimensional Area" vanishes to hit the mother-ships from beneath." Omega detailed.

"Good! Let's go!" Shidou grinned.

"Roger, Admiral Nelson!"

He speeded up and then looked at a display showing a group of ten fighters in a pyramidal formation chasing them from behind: Omega shrugged and pressed a black-colored button.

"Let's treat them to some mines." He calmly announced.

Some mines colored metallic gray and having red blinking LEDs set into them were deployed from a hatch on the top part of the shuttle: Omega then increased speed while shooting downwards in an attack angle: the fighters focused their shots on the shuttle but ended up being short: they then crashed against the mines and were taken out: Omega snapped his right hand's middle and index fingers while grinning.

"They're so predictable, really!" He exclaimed.

"ETA to Dimensional Area… 2 minutes." Acid reported.

"Good. Oho. We've got company…" Omega whistled in surprise all of a sudden.

They looked forward to see the biggest mother-ship aiming its 30 guns at the shuttle: alarms rang out and the messaged "LOCKED ON" showed up on the Real Wave display.

"Chaff."

Omega let out some chaff and the laser guns began to aim at random while missing coordination.

"Hmmm?"

He suddenly looked towards the command bridge of the mother-ship and spotted Tabuu inside of it beating his wings and looking towards them: he seemed to be smiling under the helmet.

"My, my. Our big bad buddy is teasing us, eh? Let's shower him up with some torpedoes. Go!"

Omega shot the nine torpedoes at the command bridge: Tabuu calmly beat his wings and turned invisible before a golden flash happened: the torpedoes blew up the whole insides of the command bridge and the ship began to drift given the lack of control: Omega then flew over the cannons and tossed some mines.

"_Bye – bye_, Admiral Rookie!" He laughed.

The guns began to try to shoot at the shuttle but they hit the mines instead and most of the guns ended up crippled: Omega then headed for the exhausts and stopped there while seemingly thinking.

"Gotcha. These ships have a secondary command center which takes over once the main one is left outta commission… So I can upload a little program to remove all safe-guards and have this mole do us a little favor, even…" He muttered as if thinking aloud.

He inputted some commands into the Real Wave screen and then pulled the shuttle away: the mother-ship suddenly turned on its engines and inclined the nose forward while diving for the "Dimensional Area" surrounding Epsilon.

"Knock, knock. Our battering ram is gonna knock the door out of its hinges and into the ground paving the road for the invading army to get inside of the fortress. Too bad you didn't insure it with Winterthur Inc., though, Tabby – chan!" Omega sarcastically announced.

"Not bad." Solo formed a smug smile.

"That sounds exaggerated, Omega – san…" Subaru sighed.

"Manly motto!" War Rock laughed.

The mother-ship hit the "Dimensional Area" and produced a gigantic ball of energy which expanded and opened up a gigantic hole very close to Heaven's Tower: Omega didn't waste a second and headed for the hole at top speed as the energy was channeled across the shielding and surging out of it at several spots.

"Even "Dimensional Areas" have a limit to how much energy they can actually handle before allowing something in or out."

The shuttle flew past the hole as it began to slowly reform and landed on the metallic platform surrounding the base of the tower: he performed a series of checks before shutting down the engines and activating three small legs which seemingly included magnetic ends: the nose opened and a metallic sphere dropped into the ground.

"I'm securing the ship to make sure the winds don't blow it away. Let's Denpa – Henkan and get inside of the tower… I dunno what Tabby – chan prepared but I'd stake my money on Viruses and "Darkloids"… Either way it's gonna be intense." Omega told them as he looked towards the two closed doors decorated with the words _Tengoku no iriguchi_ ("Heaven's Entrance") colored sky blue.

"Roger! Denpa – Henkan!"

"Come, Laplace."

"Ga…"

The four of them performed Denpa – Henkan and Burai had Laplace transform into his default weapon: Omega then equalized pressure and opened the door: the five of them ran out and looked up at the mole of the tower.

"Heh, heh, heh… So you've made it this far… Come in! My dear pawns are itching to play with you guys… This is going to be a very intense experience: I can promise you that! Heh, heh, heh…" Tabuu invited.

"Heh. _Ready…_ _Go_!" Omega rallied.

_Here we go! To the final battle…! For the sake of our friends…!_


	14. Chapter 14: Heaven's Tower

**Chapter 14: Heaven's Tower**

11: 02 AM (Japan Time), Thursday September the 2nd…

"… Whoa!"

"Welcome to Heaven's Spiral Stairway!"

"How ironic."

The group of five ran inside of the tower only to find a gigantic stone-built spiral stairway climbing upwards along a thick central metallic column until it became out of sight: the inner walls of the tower had vertical stripes of large round lights the colors of which were constantly shifting as well as being surrounded by the color mix-up which signaled the presence of the "Dimensional Area" inside of it.

"Climb up, then! And face my little pets, too… Heh, heh, heh…" Tabuu challenged them.

"Let's go!" Omega rallied.

They began to climb up the stairway just as V3 Denpa Viruses formed around the space and began to attack them.

"Che. Rubbish. Go, Laplace!" Burai scoffed.

"Mad Vulcan X!"

"Shock Strings!"

"Daba Flame X!"

"Plasma Shot!"

Burai shot the Laplace Blade forward and it cut through several of the Viruses: Rock Man used the Mad Vulcan to blow a Mettori up when it was about to hit him with the pickaxe, Harp Note used her guitar's strings to coil them around three Viruses and make them collide with another group nearby: Acid Ace used the Battle Card to incinerate some Grass-elemental Viruses taking advantage of their Elemental Weakness and Omega used his gun to destroy them, too.

"Hmmm? Say… Don't any of you hear this constant mosquito-like sound coming from inside the column?" He called out.

"Well… No, sir…" Rock Man admitted.

"Oi. You're an android. You can pick sounds we humans can't." Acid Ace reminded him.

"Oh. True… Hmmm…"

Omega examined the column from close-up and spotted a cover which hadn't been properly screwed: he used his saber to make pressure and it jumped off to reveal a "Dimensional Converter" built there with wires coming out of its north and south ends to extend up and down: he looked at it and suddenly grinned.

"I see… So what he really needed to power up was this stuff and not the tower itself… Powering four of them is easy. But this tower must have hundreds plus some broadcasters built into the AAC turrets to make sure the "Dimensional Area" can encompass the whole planet… This guy hasn't been sitting idle. Not bad, Tabby – chan!"

"Please… I never liked that nickname." Tabuu's resigned voice rang out with obvious frustration.

"Heh, heh, heh. You're like B-B-B-Bertie~ over here!"

"Omega – san, sir…!" Rock Man protested.

"I know I hurt your _samurai_ honor! Ya can challenge me to a _katana_ duel later, B-B-B-Bertie~!" He giggled.

"OMEGA! STOP MEDDLING AROUND!" Vadous roared.

"… Okay, okay." He calmly replied.

"I've got some "friends" waiting for you guys… Heh, heh heh." Tabuu teased them.

"I'll tell them why they're uglier than the Joker from Batman."

"My, my. Bring it on."

"Let's go! Mad speed!"

Omega suddenly used some small thrusters built into his boots to run the stairs forward at a mad speed while slicing anything on his path: the others speeded up and began to climb up, too, while still fighting the never-ending swarms of Viruses.

"Oi, Omega! Wait for us! Don't get all the glory for ya~!" Acid Ace called out.

"Grow wings, Super Hero – sama~!"

"Wing Blade!"

"Heh. I've got an idea." Burai grinned.

"Do as you like." Rock Man drily told him.

"Yeah. But don't try to drag us along, either." Harp Note warned.

"Don't worry… Laplace!"

Burai tossed the Laplace Blade into the air and suddenly jumped atop it to ride as it bounced off the wall and headed for a higher section of the stairway ahead of Omega and Acid Ace: he ran it up and looked over his shoulder with a grin: Omega looked amused and stopped his thrusters to run up normally.

"Yo! Viruses! Go meet Prophet Jeremy on his watery grave~! Mad Saber Combo!" Omega called out.

He jumped off the stair straight into a group of Viruses and quickly cut them into pieces as well as grabbing a Jet Attack Virus and making it hit the central wall, damaging one "Dimensional Converter".

"Collateral damage, sadly enough!" He announced.

"I give up." Vadous cursed over the radio.

"We're close to the top, aren't we?" Acid Ace called out.

Burai looked up and spotted how the stair ended by entering the central column: he retrieved the Laplace Blade and jumped forward.

"There's an elevator here!" He called out.

"Good. Let's ride it upwards!" Acid Ace grinned.

"Phew. This staircase is the killer!" Harp Note complained.

"Totally." Rock Man agreed on it.

"Tabuu likes tiring people out." Omega muttered.

"Maybe." Tabuu laughed.

The elevator was a round black-colored metallic platform which didn't seem to use rails or wires yet, when the five of them stepped into it, the platform hummed and began to climb upwards along a closed shaft which was largely unlit.

"Hoa~h! Come! We'll destroy you!"

"My power is unmatched!"

"Hah! I'll get a thrill!"

"My speed is higher than anything else!"

"We shall destroy any intruders…"

Five voices rang out from above and the group lifted their eyebrows in surprise as they looked around.

"From above…" Acid Ace muttered.

"So! We've got company. Nice. I'll show them how sharp my sword is and make slices outta them to sell to collectors." Omega grinned.

"Those guys will get beaten up if they look down on me. Given how they are all "Men"…" Harp Note shrugged.

"Hmpf. A title is nothing. Power is what matters. That's the number one rule in battle." Burai folded his arms.

"We're ready for anything Tabuu throws at us!"

"Well then… Go for it." Tabuu laughed.

The elevator stopped in the middle of a round room the walls of which were bare: most of it was unlit yet five glowing figures could be distinguished spread in a pentagon formation around the room: the elevator made a CLACK sound as if to indicate that it'd become locked and wouldn't move from there.

"Hoa~! I'm Air Man!"

Air Man didn't strike to be much taller than either Blood Shadow or Rock Man.

His head was a mere dome and lacked both nose and mouth: two red eyes without irises and yellow background.

His emblem, a greenish tornado, was set on his forehead.

His main body was an irregular spheroid having a fan built on the center of it plus four curved metallic pieces spanning across the body until they reached the outer edge of the fan.

Two short arms lacking elbows and colored green emerged from the sides.

His forearms were colored blue and gray with two blades set on the upper edges: his hands were colored orange.

His legs and waist were colored navy blue: two cylinders with metallic round bands on the upper and lower edges covered his legs below the knees: the lower half of the feet were colored orange.

"So, who goes next?" Acid Ace taunted.

"I am Pharaoh Man!"

The "Darkloid" named Pharaoh Man struck as being over a meter and seventy tall.

His head was shaped like a trapeze: two rectangular vertical blue stripes formed over his square plain eyes colored red: he had a nose-like formation over his face plus a gray metallic piece in the form of a trapeze aiming downwards set over where a human's mouth would be at.

His body was shaped like an Egyptian sarcophagus.

The body had a cubical base, a column-shaped portion emerging atop it and a main body shaped like two dome-shaped pieces fused and aiming up and down.

He had ear-pads on both sides of the head colored blue and having his emblem drawn into it: an outer brown-colored circle split in two at the middle point: a small brown circle was set on the middle and the interior was colored red.

His arms were crossed over his main body but were not "attached" to it per se: they had metallic gray domes sprouting out of the spot where the elbows would be at.

The arms' main color was black with a circular red stripe placed slightly over the elbow: his forearms were enclosed in bluish armor while his fingers were colored brown.

Two short immobile wings formed from behind the shoulders and aimed both NW and NE: the emblem repeated close to the wings and was of a bigger size there plus two small straight lines set parallel to each other between the ear-pads and the shoulder-pads.

"Hah! I'm Napalm Man!"

"You must love burning things up, then." Omega grinned.

Napalm Man's look was more "machine" than "humanoid" but he could be close to a meter and seventy like Pharaoh Man, too.

His main body was colored purple.

He had no nose and mouth but he did have green iris eyes set there: a muzzle-like object formed on the forehead: it had a round white base and the muzzle itself was colored orange.

Napalm Man's shoulders were shaped like arches and colored in a pale purple color: they had a thin square drawn towards the lower edge and an orange-colored stripe passing over the arch and heading towards the rear.

His arms' skin was colored black and his forearms were long cylinders which looked like guns.

The spot where the elbow and the gun fused had a square white plastic piece while the main body of the gun was tinted purple: the rear end was a greenish circle and the guns' muzzle had a circular orange base and a greenish extension.

There was a gap below the torso around the waist before the lower body began.

This gap had Napalm Man's emblem set into it which consisted on a white edge with a downwards-aiming triangle drawn inside of it: the upward edge was tinted in a purple color with the rest of the triangle was colored orange instead: a ring circled the triangle close to the spike of the triangle as well.

This lower body was colored purple as well: it included an orange-colored piece spanning from the lower edge and continuing beneath the piece: Napalm Man's legs spread from there.

His legs were plain black: their armor began close to the knees: it included a square-shaped white-colored piece of armor past the ankle: the front part of the feet had a pale purple color while the rear part was colored in a black color.

"We are Planet Man…"

Planet Man appealed as being around the height of the other "Darkloids" and his design was rather curious.

His head was a simple spheroid with a round metallic edge and black "skin" but had no nose or mouth anywhere at all (his voiced sounded hollow and it echoed) yet it did have two eyes and two antennae-like formations coming out of its upper edge.

His main body was a planetoid-like spheroid having two curved white stripes spanning its diameter: three vertical diamond-shaped formations ran down the middle and sides of it: each stripe was composed of three diamonds: the rest of the body was colored blue.

His shoulders were detached from the body and hovering close to it: their design was very similar to that of the face.

It had a central white spot and one antenna with three yellow rings downgrading in diameter as they climbed up.

The forearms were also detached from the main body and were divided in two halves by a black circular stripe.

The rear half of the forearms had a small vertical rectangle set over the stripe, were metallic gray in color and ended in cone-like shapes aiming upwards.

The front half was just the fingers which were colored yellow.

His legs, like the shoulders and forearms, were also detached from the main body as well: they also were divided in two by a black stripe.

The upper half had the rectangle set over the stripe, were metallic gray in color, too, were shaped like domes and a short cylinder sprouted from their upper edges to end as a disc having a small black button on the center of its surface.

The front half was colored yellow and ended in a cone-like shape as well.

"And I'm Quick Man: the fastest in the world!"

His face was encompassed by a protective helmet colored red and having a golden _boomerang_ set on the forehead: his ear-pad drawing was, essentially, a _boomerang_ aiming towards the right set against a black background.

He had a mouth, a nose and his eyes were green with black pupils.

His neck and part of his upper body set within those golden borders was colored black.

His upper body's choice of color palette was red with golden borders set around his neck as well.

His forearms were surrounded by golden armor with a red stripe close to the far edge: they turned thicker around the wrist and a slightly curved golden blade emerged from there: the skin of the arms, like in most cases, was just plain black.

A metallic belt with his emblem set on the middle spot circled his waist: two metallic stripes ran down the outward-facing sides of his legs and the skin was also plain black until the knees.

His boots were colored red and had another piece of armor extending from above the knees and past them: a black triangle could be spotted next to the ankle on the inward-facing side of the boots which had golden soils.

"Enjoy playing with the last of my pawns while my little pets go bring headaches to the NASA successors… They must have their hands busy by now, I'd rather say…" Tabuu laughed.

"What?" Acid Ace frowned.

"Pharaoh Cube!"

"Quick Boomerang!"

"Vulcan Arm!"

"Black Hole!"

"Triple Tornado!"

"Let's go! Hra~h!"

"Dia Iceburn X!"

"Brachio Wave X!"

"Dancing Blade! Go, Laplace!"

"Wing Blade!"

Pharaoh Man summoned some blocks of stone with his emblem painted into them which began to fall around the area: Omega headed for him at top speed while drawing his blade: Quick Man shoot some boomerangs at Rock Man who countered with a Mega Card: Napalm Man used his three cannons to shoot rounds at Harp Note who also used a Mega Card: Planet Man formed a black hole: the Laplace Blade hit him from an unexpected angle: Air Man formed three tornadoes but Acid Ace rammed into him.

"Tabuu…! You lowlife…! You've spammed a whole reserve army across the world while we were busy here…!" Vadous hissed over the radio.

"Well. All's fair in war: you quoted that several times, Vadous! You said it was fair to fill Hoshikawa's body with scars and then implant that chip on his brain to lock his personality: and he was expected to end up believing he was a failed candidate for a program attempting to recreate Rock Man… Kazimura Albert. Or at least that was the plan back then."

"This guy…! WAXA! Do you copy me? Flame – Elemental attacks are useful against the M1 Tanks! And the drop-ships are unarmed, so attacking their cores will destroy them!" Vadous told them.

"Go on, Subaru!" Daigo rallied.

"S3 Scheme… Shooting Star Simulation… What a daunting title for a non-existent project! Yet… Blood Shadow could be considered the successful result of all those supposed attempts, too…"

"That's what I'd guessed myself." Harp Note admitted.

"Detective Hibiki jumps into the stage?" He teased.

"… Hmpf. Whatever." She scoffed.

"Burai… One piece of advice: don't try to pick on girls or you can end up badly. Seriously." Acid Ace whispered.

"Hmpf. They say that several of the world's assassins are women because they have more tricks up their sleeves…" He shrugged.

"I can picture Ushijima fighting for the sake of his CO and his Sherlock wannabe classmate plus the street punk…" Tabuu laughed.

"_Iinchou_ being the CO…? And if Jack heard that he'd end up pretty angered…" Rock Man muttered with obvious skepticism.

"And maybe Futaba has telepathy and can feel what you think about him so he's backing you up, Hoshikawa? Heh, heh, heh. Let's continue!"

"Che! I'm going to make you take back those words! Let's go, guys! Today we win and we'll teach this guy not to insult us! Here I go~! Hra~h!"


	15. Chapter 15: Fallen angel

**Chapter 15: Fallen Angel**

11:39 AM (Japan Time), Thursday September the 2nd…

"… Meteors!"

"Sword Fighter X!"

"Quick Boomerang!"

"Flying Knuckles!"

"Napalm Bomb!"

"Mad Vulcan X!"

"Black Hole!"

"Wing Blade!"

"Tornado!"

"Ice Spear!"

"Go on, my dear audience… Heh, heh, heh…"

Rock Man was facing Pharaoh Man: he dodged the incandescent meteors and hit him six times in a row with the sword before jumping off: Quick Man shot his boomerang at Burai who countered with his "Flying Knuckles" thus momentarily dizzying Quick Man: Napalm Man shot three bombs at the ground which formed rings of fire but Harp Note bombarded him with rounds from a Mad Vulcan X: Acid Ace rammed into Planet Man as he began forming his attack while Omega produced a spear of super-cooled ice which drove into Air Man's fan, making it get stuck: Tabuu's voice boomed out from everywhere in the meanwhile.

"This guy is starting to feed me up." Harp Note muttered with some annoyance.

"Harp Note… Try not to take out your frustration…" Rock Man whispered to her.

"I know." She calmly replied.

"So. What happened to the earlier guts, Duck Man?" Omega taunted Air Man.

"Why, you…!"

"Hmpf. Fast, you lowlife said? You lowlife are slow and weak." Burai scoffed as he began to chase Quick Man around the room without any troubles to match up his speed.

"By all the…!" Quick Man cursed.

"This guy can't do anything else?" Acid Ace taunted Planet Man with a broad grin.

"Bothersome foolish one…!" Planet Man muttered.

"How can a mere little girl stand up to an elite fighting "Darkloid" like the great me?" Napalm Man cursed.

"That's because you "men" always have looked down on us… I'm not holding back on you!" Harp Note grinned.

"This bothersome brat…!" Pharaoh Man grumbled.

"Go get lost." Rock Man shot back.

"Hmpf. Be deleted, weakling." Burai taunted Quick Man.

"You lowlife…!" Quick Man cursed.

"We should try to finish this soon…" Rock Man suggested.

"Hmmm… Aha. Underground." Omega suggested.

"But Pharaoh Man hovers…" He argued.

"I'll handle the guy." Omega held out his sword.

"Let's go, then! Come!" Rock Man taunted Quick Man.

"Delete~!"

"Come, you weapon fanatic!" Harp Note taunted Napalm Man.

"Why, you…!"

"Yo! Planetoid Man! Bite my armored right foot!" Acid Ace taunted Planet Man next.

"Bothersome foolish one…!" He cursed.

"Hmpf. You fan-something-duck! Face me." Burai challenged.

"Bothersome meddling guy!"

"Hra~h! Let's go, Akhenaton's Mummy!" Omega laughed.

"You lowlife!" Pharaoh Man growled.

When the other four rushed towards their opponents they ended up stepping into Giga Mine Battle Cards and getting blown up: they landed in different spots of the room while having suffered major damage and they all cursed.

"WHY, YOU…!"

"Cheap." The four of them shot back.

"Heh, heh, heh… Hrah! Hah! Hya~h! Hah!"

"Ugh… Guh… Guah! GUO~H!"

Omega began a combo of saber attacks: he swung it on a 180º arch, then shot skywards with it, jumped downwards with the saber and finally dashed forward to stab it into Pharaoh Man's forehead: he growled and blew up all of a sudden.

"I added a little bug which triggers core program implosion! I'm somewhat of a hacker, too, ya see." He grinned.

"I'll admit that was a smart move, for once, Omega." Vadous muttered over the radio.

"Guys! Let's clean up!" He rallied.

"Roger!"

"You lowlifes…!" The four remaining opponents cursed.

"Here we go~!"

"DELETE~!"

"Go, Laplace! Dancing Blade!"

"Wing Blade!"

"Great Axe!"

"Hammer Weapon X!"

"UO~H!"

All four attacks were enough to finally bring down each "Darkloid" and the group of four sighed in relief as they lowered their weapons: sarcastic clapping rang out through the speakers.

"Wonderful, comrades. Wonderful show. Maybe it's about time you saw the slightly pointless resistance of the Earthlings? I'll treat you to a sneak preview!" Tabuu laughed.

A gigantic Real Wave screen formed on the middle of the room and it displayed Ox Fire ramming and breathing fire into a swarm of robot soldiers yet more came on coming.

"Buruo~! I won't give up! For _iinchou_'s sake!" He exclaimed.

"Gonta…!" Rock Man muttered.

The screen switched to a view of Wolf Forest and his wolves fighting incoming waves of enemies: Wolf Forest swept his claws and cut six of them in a row before using an upper attack which destroyed three in a row: he stepped back and then hurled forward to destroy another pack while howling.

"My blood's boiling! I can't have enough! Let them come! I'll make mincemeat of each and every one of them!" He exclaimed.

"Juurou – san…!"

The camera cut to Cancer Bubble standing atop a ledge somewhere and looking slightly annoyed.

"Buku! Tidal Wave! Buku!"

"Hasami Chiyokichi – kun…!"

His "Tidal Wave" attack washed several enemies away and he sighed in relief but suddenly gasped as more came on-screen.

"Buku! Is there no end to them, buku?"

The feed displayed Crown Thunder in the Dream Island Junkyard fighting against a wave of enemies.

"Crown Thunder!"

His attack rained down forming a pattern which allowed him to hit several enemies at the same time: he then turned around and grumbled something aloud.

"By all the… What persistent guys! Crown Thunder!"

He was cut off as Goat Kung Fu was the next one to show up on screen while fighting enemies using his martial arts on Donbura Village: he leant the right foot on the ground while he swung his left foot around in a circle to toss several enemies into the lake.

"…Sa~! This marks 86 enemies! How many more are trying to pick up a fight, hmmm? Huh? E~H? There's gotta be at least 40 of them in that new wave coming from the south! Crap!" He cursed.

"Yagi Kenta – kun…!"

The imagery displayed Strong and Cygnus Wing attacking several of the robots coming out of one drop ship parked in the middle of the waters next to the Shiisaa Island beach.

"This marks 198! Huh! There are still a lot left!" He gasped as he looked towards the drop-ship.

"Cygnus Dance! Let them be destroyed! I won't hesitate… I'll prove my courage…!"

"Strong…! Utagai - san…!"

"And, lastly…" Tabuu teased.

"… Pegasus Freeze!"

"Leo Blazer!"

"Dragon Cyclone!"

"Even the Satellite Administrators…!" Rock Man gasped.

In effect: Pegasus Magic, Leo Kingdom and Dragon Sky were using their power to fight another horde of robot soldiers: Pegasus formed a magic array on the ground and a gigantic mass of ice emerged from within it thus destroying a good deal of enemies: Leo built up energy inside of his mouth before shooting a continuous stream of flames forward: they annihilated at least 30 to 40 enemies in one blow and damaged adjacent ones: Dragon isolated a group of 40 to 50 of them and then began to spiral around them while climbing upwards and forming a cyclone built up from thousands of leaves.

"Heh, heh, heh. Not bad, not bad… Your buddies have destroyed over 30,000 units yet another 90,000 are left. Let's see how they'll handle this crisis. Did you think these things only happened in the movies? Well! I'm making it be real. And be glad it isn't something repulsive like what Anaya sponsored." He teased.

"Tabuu…!" Rock Man cursed.

"_A~nd_…! Hoshikawa Subaru! You're the Chosen One! You get a VIP pass to get straight to me: you guys have fun battling 10,000 units! _No pain_, _no gain_! Heh, heh, heh!"

Rock Man was suddenly surrounded by a white shaft of light spanning the whole height of the room and apparently warped out as several purple gateways opened and hordes of mass-produced robots began to walk out before aiming their weapons towards the group.

"Hmpf. Rubbish. Whatever. I'll make heaps of junk outta them."

"That's my motto, but I don't mind. My saber skills will annihilate them in the blink of an eye!" Omega grinned to Burai.

"Let's go~!" Acid Ace rallied.

11:52 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Welcome to Heaven's Hall: the entrance to Heaven! Rock Man! You have been chosen. We'll fight here without anyone getting on the way, not even your beloved Boss…"

"If you're trying to scare me, it's in vain. I was alone when I fought Andromeda, Ra Mu and Crimson Dragon!"

"Heh, heh, heh. But you won't have it easy fighting me…"

Rock Man was standing in the middle of a blue platform shaped like a conical base aiming downwards and made of stone: nine propeller jets were placed around its base and made it hover in the midst of a scenario decorated like it was somewhere in the midst of the sky: two golden locked gates were set further in the distance with the words _tengoku_ (Heaven) drawn in the arch above them: a bright sun radiated into the area and some white clouds sluggishly moved past the area.

"Heh, heh, heh… Coming… The Great Cataclysm…!"

The skies suddenly turned grey and thicker clouds began to form obscuring the Sun: thunderbolts rained down along with rain drops: a figure was drawn behind the golden gates which were slowly getting red stains into them which looked like human blood: the gates slowly creaked open as the figure emitted a rainbow glow and began to hover outside of it while the sounds of sword fighting rang out in the background.

"And so Heaven became stained… The Fallen Angel, Lucifer, brought the plagues of the mortal world up there… And the fight for absolute dominance began… The sinful ones were drawn into the pits of the _Naraku_ along with Lucifer… To never rise again… Although I edited this a bit, this is more or less how the tale has been passed down for countless generations…" Tabuu's voice narrated.

"Which means that…!" Rock Man gasped.

"Yeah. Drop into the _Naraku_ and meet the agonizing souls wandering there for _almost_ all eternity… Who knows? Maybe you'll find Futaba amongst them…"

The platform's jets abruptly shut down and the free fall's speed build-up combined with air resistance forced Rock Man to lie face-down on the platform and grip into some handles built into the ground so as to not to fall off: he was able to glimpse a sight of an island having a volcano on the middle of it before the platform entered the volcanic shaft and began to drop down along it.

"S-stop with the show already…! Tabuu! Fight me!" Rock Man called out as he looked up.

"Not yet."

The platform dropped in the middle of a lava lake and Rock Man managed to stand up to then survey the area: he could see a passageway excavated into the mountain and running parallel to the north shore which was being trekked by countless figures wearing dull gray tunics with hoods which hid their faces and, given how Rock Man could only see their left sides, he couldn't guess their gender, either.

"The sinful ones! All humans on this planet have committed sins across their lives… And here is where they are punished: the _Naraku_! But Anaya was crueler in the fact that she built her own _living Naraku_… Where living ones would be driven to insanity…" Tabuu narrated.

"You're making a mistake here. We Orientals believe that people enter the _Naraku_ because of the amount of _karma_ they build up during their lives and not for their sins." Rock Man corrected.

"Ops. I knew I was rushing it way too much… Well then… Welcome to the Universe!"

A purple gateway opened and the platform began to hover as it floated across outer space and several planets shot past by the sides along with stars, black holes, asteroids and other natural objects: a planet finally became visible in front of Rock Man: its continents' whole surface were filled with gigantic patterns of light in the unlit section and other lights glowed across the skies and from the bottom of the oceans as well as the ice masses: the platform stopped and began to slowly orbit the planet while Rock Man looked on.

"I think you've guessed it by now, Rock Man. This is my planet, my "Origin Port" so as to speak… My creators launched me into the Universe 486 Earth-years ago… I have spent most of the time inside of a spaceship in hibernation and only awoke when the spaceship detected any planet worth a look and which had some sort of technology – based civilization to it… Do you want to know why? They were very similar to this era's humans… They wanted to expand! They wanted to colonize the stars: to build up a Cosmic Empire! To rule it all! To exploit the natural resources and to free up space in their home-world because they had conquered the oceans and the skies…! That's when they built me as their master quality tool and proxy to catalog the Universe…!" He narrated.

"W-whoa! You're 486 Earth-years old, then…!"

"Correct. Yet, I've only been active about 133 of those years because the ion engine spacecraft took long time to achieve decent speeds after slow-down to study a planet or system… The ship was equipped with auto-repair nanomachines and systems… Yet… Given my high intelligence and my level of power… Why had I to be a mere tool of them? Why couldn't I possess "reason"…? Why couldn't I be "free"…? The seed of rebellion began to be planted into me. Why should others be reduced to mere subjugation and domination just to satisfy the caprices of a bunch of foolish beings? Isn't that what colonialism has always been in Earth? To dominate the natives and favor the invaders…! Why do you think there have been so many wars in the name of "freedom" and "independence" on Earth?" Tabuu questioned.

"W-well… True…" Rock Man trailed off.

"Did they tell you? Or were they so ashamed of it that they have erased it from the history books? Did they ever teach you about the invasion of Choina performed by Japan before and during WWII, back in the early 20th century? What did Japan do back then?"

"Eh… I dunno, really. We haven't gotten to that era yet…"

"Ah. I forgot that you're still young… Yet, beware! Your country isn't innocent, either. No country is. They all have committed sins!"

"Oi, oi! Quit the speech already! I'm itching for a fight!" War Rock called out.

"I am also, too. But wait just 48 seconds for the background change system to turn on and then we'll settle our pending score…" Tabuu calmly replied.

"So! You abandoned the spaceship or sabotaged its communication systems so that no further reports would reach your home planet and they'd think you'd been deleted?" Rock Man guessed.

"Correct. And luck had it that I stumbled upon the "Subspace" after waking up of a sleep lasting 98 years… After faking my death, I looked up my records and decided to pick this planet as an ideal HQ given how you'd immediately ignore it given its lack of interesting features. And I admit that I once saw a planet devastated by "Omicron Factor" which was slowly becoming a wholly new planet which could be a new "Zero Point" from which new "seeds" would be scattered… But that was 132 Earth-years ago, so I guess it's fully completed transformation given how it was about 70% complete back then… What happened in Planet "Omicron" may have repeated in countless other planets… And maybe Death Shadow is just trying to find a way to do the same to Earth, even!" Tabuu announced next while sounding amused.

"Death Shadow wants to…! I won't the let the guy!" Rock Man cursed aloud.

"Ah. Background is ready… Let's go! _Rock `n roll_!"

The background finally shifted to a view of Earth with several red circles drawn in some spots on the surface as if to indicate the spots where the enemy troops were present at right now.

"While we were talking, about 50,000 units have been destroyed yet another 30,000 are left. Let's see how much time they can endure fighting without sufficient breaks. And now my desire: to demonstrate my power and intelligence across the Universe and to rise above the status of having been a mere tool… I am Tabuu, the Black Angel! Now! Holder of the Hero's "soul"… Let us battle!"

Tabuu suddenly formed in the middle of the air and began to appear and disappear while reforming in different spots of the space: Rock Man jumped across the air towards him while having drawn two Elec Slash Battle Cards: he hit the joints with them but they had no visible effect at all, to his surprise: Tabuu then drew his golden blades and quickly made eight cuts to Rock Man's body, forcing him to jump back into the platform and look at his swords.

"But Akatsuki – san said that…!" He muttered.

"… "Fool me once, you're to shame. Fool me twice, I am to shame." … No one gets fooled twice!" Tabuu quoted.

"Crap! He improvised that weak point and eliminated it…! No way! Then there's no getting through the armor…? What can I do…?" Rock Man gasped.

"Try Noise Change!" War Rock suggested.

"Noise Change…? Worth a try... Let's go, Tabuu! Impact Cannon! Mad Vulcan X!" Rock Man muttered.

He attacked Tabuu with both attacks which did no damage but he performed Noise Change into a new form.

"Whoa! Is this… Burai Noise? But… Shouldn't that be impossible? I mean, I have Brother Bands and… The Brother Bands…!"

He suddenly looked at his Hunter – VG and saw how an orange LED was blinking on a section of it: he gasped and looked surprised.

"The Brother Bands…! There's no signal! They can't reach this place all, then…? But… They should be able to! They reached me when I was onboard the emergency evacuation capsule of "Bonds"… And then when I was in the Great Temple of the Mu Continent…! Not even Sirius' Black Hole Server could stop them and neither could Meteor G! So… Why can't they reach me?" He wondered aloud.

"Easy! That jerk… He's set up some kind of "bubble" around this whole place which turns it into a "clean" environment free of external signals!"

"What! But then, the Noise Change…?"

"This platform is a real machine! And it seems to have a Noise emitting device built into it…" War Rock replied.

"Normally, I'd be worried about the Noise Change's NFB attacks but Burai Noise doesn't have one. And, besides… This device will only generate Noise up to 105%! You can't Finalize here, Rock Man. This place is my domain: I rule it all!" Tabuu laughed.

"Not fair!"

"Did you think a fallen angel would play fair? You're rather _naïve_ despite what you've gone through…" Tabuu shrugged.

"You…! I won't lose to such lame tricks! Now that I have power bonus for Sword-Type Battle Cards… I'll make use of it!"

"Hmmm? Oi, Subaru! I found a new program which has just finished installation… It's titled "LB" and it seems to be a weapon!"

"Weird. I don't remember having downloaded it."

"It doesn't seem to come from Mystery Wave or someone who gave it off, though… There's a word written here which is "self"… But I dunno who made this thing up, anyway." War Rock replied with a shrug.

"Let's try it out, then!"

"Yessir! You weirdo! Equip!"

The Hunter – VG suddenly beeped and a purple LED turned on as energy built up around it and then gave way to the Laplace Blade: both War Rock and Rock Man gasped in surprise.

"The Laplace Blade…? Solo! He must've installed this while I wasn't looking as if he'd foreseen what could happen!" He deduced.

"Whoa! The guy actually went outta his way to help ya? Then again… He _did_ help us back when we were storming Dealer's HQ…"

"With this…! Get ready, Tabuu!"

"What… Do you honestly think such a weapon can inflict any damage to my armor?" Tabuu laughed.

"I won't know until I try! Hra~h!"

"My, my. What nasty children. It'd seem I'll have to teach you some lessons when in front of a more powerful life-form!"

Tabuu crossed his arms and spread his wings fully open as he began to build up energy: Rock Man yelled and hit the right shoulder joint with the Laplace Blade: the attack actually bent it and made it jump off, thus exposing a bit of bluish glowing skin: Tabuu gasped but didn't stop building energy.

"Impossible! How can that stupid toy… Mu Metal! What Sirius stole and then transferred into your body… You gave it back to Burai and he _did_ use it to improve the Laplace Blade…!" He realized.

"Whoa! So that's why Sirius took it… It was more than a valuable relic, then…!" Rock Man gasped.

"His "Status Guard" ability was generated by that thing to begin with so that's the main reason!" Tabuu grumbled.

"Hah! How's this one like, ugly?" War Rock taunted.

"Too late… Charging up is 98% complete! Prepare to experience my TRUE POWER! Apocalypse…" He roared.

"No…! Not that…!" Rock Man gasped.

"99%! Only 27 seconds left… Be defeated by this one blow and let Earth fall to my army! Then I shall go take war to my creators… I know they're still alive yet they have almost wiped themselves out in a nuclear war for territorial supremacy and are now shambles… I shall teach them how foolish they really were! 11 seconds left…!"

"… I only see one way out..!" Rock Man muttered.

He suddenly began to hit the metallic ground with the Laplace Blade and cut a slice out to reveal a device hidden on the center of the stage.

"6 seconds!"

Rock Man pulled it out and cut some wires which he linked into some ports of his Hunter – VG: it began to glow with a crimson halo which soon spread around Rock Man's body.

"4 seconds!"

"Finalize! Black Ace!"

"Useless! 2 seconds…!"

"Black End… Galaxy!"

"… Now! Apocalypse Now! THE END!"

Tabuu formed a gigantic crimson-colored shockwave which swept the arena but Black Ace Rock Man's black hole's shockwave met it as it expanded: both cancelled each other and Tabuu's remaining joins were suddenly hit by Rock Man as he flew past him in blurs.

"Impossible…! The Apocalypse Now failed, you say…!"

"Yeah! A black hole usually holds particles of "Dark Matter" which is the contrary to "matter" so they cancel each other! And by feeding all of the Noise into my Hunter – VG from your device I was able to achieve Finalize…! Even if I couldn't connect to the Meteor Server, the Black Ace Galaxy technique is recorded inside of the Hunter – VG!"

The pieces of armor surrounding the arms, legs and the main body suddenly unlocked and fell into the ground followed by the helmet surrounding the head.

"Whoa!" Rock Man gasped.

Tabuu's real body color was a glowing light blue color and he had a rather humanoid form although he was rather "androgynous" in appearance.

His eyes lacked any coloring or irises being mere black stains.

The skin turned transparent in some spots: it showed how the body was hollow beneath it.

He had a grayish core of sorts built into his upper torso and

"So that's his true form…! He looks very human…!" Rock Man gasped.

"Now's our chance, Subaru! His armor's gone: he can't fight properly without that thing on, so…!" War Rock rallied.

"Yeah! Tabuu! Get ready to be defeated!"

"Hmpf. Even if you defeat me… That won't show you the exit from here and that won't stop the army because the control signal will remain active as long as I am alive!" Tabuu merely replied.

"I don't care! I'll use Blood's power… Red Gaia Eraser!"

"What!"

Rock Man shot a straight crimson-colored beam of energy into Tabuu meeting him head-on followed by two beams produced by floating disks: a huge dome-shaped explosion covered the terrain next and, when it cleared, Tabuu had attained some damage and was panting.

"W-why, you…! This won't be enough! Red Gaia Eraser's MAX damage clocks at 500 HP yet I hold 5000 HP! I've got plenty of HP and I can still fight!" Tabuu roared.

"… Wing Blade! Harp Note X! Burai X! Acid Ace X!"

"No way!"

Acid Ace formed on the field and shot some bullets at Tabuu before ramming into him: Harp Note used her guitar strings to attack Tabuu five times, Burai deliver his four-hit combo and Acid Ace slashed twice with his Long Sword.

"Even without Brother Bands… My companions remain with me! And this sums up 1895 HP of damage… 2395: close to half of your total! And this isn't over yet!" Rock Man announced.

"Impossible…! I… I will be defeated… by this one? By someone about to repeat the mistakes of my creators…? I am above them…! How could I fall so low…? This cannot be possible…!" He muttered.

"Here we go! Moon Disaster X! Ox Fire X! Cygnus Wing X! Ophiucus Queen X! Gemini Spark X! Eat this!"

Moon Disaster shot three "Moon Cutters" while moving towards the right and one while moving left: Ox Fire bathed Tabuu in flames, Cygnus Wing rammed into him, Ophiucus Queen hit him and both Gemini Sparks attacked him.

"Summing up! 1920 plus 2395… 4315!" Rock Man announced.

"Guh… Gah… No…! I can still do it…! Apocalypse…!"

Tabuu began to build up energy but the spheroid's colorings were shifting at random while the speed seemed to be slower, too.

"Wolf Forest X! 360 damage! 4675!"

"Come on…! 19 seconds…! And I'll turn this around…!"

"Cancer Bubble X! 280 damage! 4955! One Charge Shot… And I'll have defeated you, Tabuu!" Rock Man announced.

"I am… Tabuu EXE…! A Net Navi… Far above that moron named "Duo" who they also created…! 5 seconds…! My deeds shall not be forgotten: someone somewhere will write them down! 3 seconds…! Prepare to be deleted, Shooting Star… Rock Man…!" Tabuu announced.

"Charge… Shot!"

"… Now! Apocalypse Now!"

The Charge Shot hit the spheroid but instead of destroying it they fused and the spheroid began to grow at a maddening speed: its colors were constantly shifting and bursts of light were being emitted by its body: Rock Man stepped back while Tabuu laughed.

"Fate has granted me another chance…! My story will be told elsewhere but yours, Rock Man… Belongs to "this" Universe! Farewell!"

The spheroid suddenly imploded and bright release of energy blinded the whole space: a deafening sound like being in the midst of storm swallowed up Tabuu's laughter and Rock Man's cry of panic…


	16. Chapter 16: Advent

**Chapter 16: Advent**

16:44 PM (Japan Time), Thursday September the 1st…

"… Uh-unh… Huh… Uh-unh… Uh…"

"Subaru! Are you alright?"

"Uh… That voice… Master…?"

"Yeah. That's me."

Subaru slowly opened his eyes and blinked several times: all looked blurry to him but he could recognize a figure leaning over him: Subaru felt like he was laying face-up on something soft and cushioned.

"W-where am I…?" Subaru slowly asked.

"My lab, inside of the HQ. We're just 1 hour away from Earth." Lartes calmly replied.

Subaru managed to focus his sight and recognized Lartes' face: he then looked around and spotted that he was lying atop a black examination table like the ones in a medic's consulting room: the other pieces of furniture included a wooden desk built into the north wall, a rotating armchair and two capsule-like objects connected to a deposit on the eastern wall: the southern wall had a door marking the entry and exit of the room.

"Yo! Subaru! Ya have been dreaming of Tsukasa?" War Rock joked as he hovered over him.

"By all the… Leave me alone. I have a terrible headache. I feel dizzy and I feel like the whole world is spinning around me. O~w…" He cursed.

"No wonder… Being kicked out of that dimensional space by such a violent rupture of Time-Space continuum must have blown up your sense of stability." Lartes calmly told him.

"Kicked out of…? What became of Tabuu?"

"No trace."

"What exactly happened?"

"War Rock told us what happened to you, so… Well. Omega and the others were still fighting the robots in that room but Omega was worried about you so he blew a hole in the ceiling and climbed up the continuation of the elevator's shaft: he ended up in a room with two stairs heading to a room above that which turned out to be a command center given the supercomputer built there: he then found out that the "diamond" atop the tower was another "Dimensional Area" shaped like that… He accessed the supercomputer and skipped through its data to try to find out where in the world you two where at. But the whole structure began to rattle and shake at the same time space-time began to flow out of control with cracks forming and energy releasing out of nowhere. The tower's stability looked threatened, so he unlocked the elevator and ordered everyone to evacuate before it sunk into the ocean." Lartes narrated.

"Then they climbed into the shuttle?"

"Yeah. They were all reticent, no wonder, but they managed to flee just as the tower's supporting undersea structure stopped functioning due to the wild gamma, beta and alpha rays popping out of the Time-Space fissures and the tower began to sunk. But then something unexpected happened: a GIGANTIC crack in Time-Space formed and began to "engulf" everything around it like if it was trying to equalize atmospheric pressures and drain out the whole planet's atmosphere… That was when two sounds rang out: Tabuu's totally insane laughter and your cries of fear: you were actually ejected out of the huge hole and Omega was able to use the shuttle to rendezvous with you and pick you up. They were able to spot Tabuu's true form for a few seconds as he was seemingly about to be suck by a crack of space into space: a secondary crack which was even larger than the one in the planet. He was sucked ALONG with the WHOLE TOWER before it imploded and the energy release swept through the whole planet thus blowing up the AAC towers: they sank into the bottom of the ocean! THAT was a spectacle which even made Boss' jaw hit the floor. I swear: no movie can rival THAT!" Lartes continued while sounding excited.

"W-w-whoa…!"

"And, lastly… The mother-ships, lacking a control signal, shut down ALL of their systems and began to drift around: there were still about 6 of them left and we predict that they'll eventually fall off or crash with each other over time. But we didn't care for them since we wanted to get the hell outta there as fast as possible before the thing worsened. It could've sucked up the whole planet had the energy been greater, even! So, when the shuttle was onboard, Boss had already "heated up" the engines and we shot into hyper-space to flee the crazy area. And we've been travelling through it. I know that the trip from Earth was just 2 hours but Boss didn't have enough time to "heat up" to a 100% speed and could only afford 33% speed, which is why we've been in transit for 5 hours already. Almost everyone is resting on their rooms after they passed a medical check to make sure they hadn't been contaminated by the radiation."

"I see… And I've been unconscious this whole time?"

"You deliberately filled up your Denpa – Henkan body with Noise out of a raw source and the amount of effort done to use all those Mega Cards out of the blue took its toll on you. Besides… You were bombarded by a small amount of radiation, too, but… It wasn't worrisome and it won't have effects to your health. I did have to replace your Hunter –VG and re-upload its software because it wasn't designed to withstand such dangerous levels of radiation: it ended up burnt out. Sorry." Lartes told him with a slight sigh.

"I don't mind, Master… A Hunter – VG is a small price to pay for a greater victory… Did Solo admit having come up with the program to use the Laplace Blade?" Subaru asked as he tried to sit up.

"Yeah. He told me he was sure that you'd need it. He admits that it amused him the fact that you used a Noise Change shaped after him but overall he was satisfied. He picked a room on the 2nd deck and he is either resting or playing with the Hunter – VG."

"So, what exactly could've happened to Tabuu?"

"Most probably… The crack in Time-Space sucked him and the tower at random through a chaos of Time-Space formations…"

"And…?"

"He could end up anywhere in the Universe. Yet… His last words saying something like "THIS" Universe… Maybe he was already conscious of what was going to happen… And maybe he actually will end up in _another_ Universe…"

"ANOTHER Universe? Is that possible, sir?" Subaru gasped.

"Yeah! It was already suggested in the last stages of the 20th century that there are countless "alternate" or "parallel" Universes or worlds. Time-Space physics are still a mystery to most of humanity." Lartes calmly told him with a broad smile.

"I see… Yet… He wasn't being really "evil", I'd say… More like he wanted to demonstrate what he was capable of…" Subaru muttered.

"Yeah. In fact… Boss got an email from him a few minutes before he pulled you out of the tower to fight you… He spoke about how he'd been plague by paranoia when cooperating with us and the reason he left us is because that paranoia was consuming him and he didn't want to end up fighting us back then out of an outburst of said paranoia. He then bid his time and prepared this "show" to prove that he could handle perfectly alone without the need of his "creators" to be always forwarding orders to him and deciding what he should do…" Lartes sighed.

"I see…"

"But he attached something to the mail: four Mega Cards which were all based on him. Mega Cards: Tabuu, Tabuu V2, Tabuu V3 and Tabuu X. Non-elemental: 3 waves of energy which spread across the screen with a little delay between each other: V1 deals 100 HP of damage per wave. V2 is 150, V3 is 200 and X is 250. There was a note saying they were for you, Subaru, because he recognized your power." Lartes added as he picked a blue Hunter – VG and handed it to Subaru.

Subaru gasped and looked at the screen: the image displayed a close-up of Tabuu's upper torso and face plus some segments of the wings could be seen on the background.

"Whoa… And he produced them for me…"

"Ah! I was forgetting something else: all robots on Earth shut down the same moment the tower began to act in a wild manner. They didn't receive the broadcasting signal which was being repeated using several of Earth's satellites. The Satella Police has stuffed them inside of their drop-ships and gathered them in a small island which is off-limits to civilians so that we then bring them to the Subspace for scrapping. Blood Shadow and Sigma managed to sabotage several of the mother-ships from the insides to disable their weapon systems, too." Lartes smiled.

"And Tsukasa is gonna kneel down in front of your Nanska Village statue to pray upon ya like the godly prophet ya are, Subari~! Nyah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!" War Rock suddenly laughed.

"That was… pathetic. Really." Lartes fumed.

"Yeah. The statue there is Gonta's, not mine. And Tsukasa – kun knows it very well. He used to be there for a while before he vanished off the radar like he is today." Subaru fumed next.

"Heh, heh, heh… War Rock – sama is unbeatable!"

"Yeah, yeah… Now leave me alone. I still feel dizzy."

"Sure, Dizzy Man!"

"Jeez!"

War Rock laughed and flew out while Subaru attempted to pace around the room while Lartes watching over him: he ended up sitting down on the armchair with a sigh of relief.

"Relax, Subaru. These symptoms will most likely fade after a while when you've had proper rest." Lartes told him.

"We should be getting back to Earth in a while, right?"

"Yeah. Another 35 minutes, more or less…"

"Good… I think I'll sleep profoundly tonight. I feel so tired… Fua~h… I should practice some _kendo_ again…!"

17:58 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Congratulations!"

"Whoa!"

Subaru, Misora and Shidou stepped into the WAXA Command Room to be greeted by their friends and the WAXA staff: confetti blew around the room along with clapping.

"Jackie~! I've found it out! Ya are the culprit!"

"The culprit behind what?" Jack grumbled.

"Tsukasa's disappearance: take that!"

"Why would bother to mess with that Thunder God Gemini guy's host when he hasn't messed with me?" He grumbled.

"'Cause ya want a monopoly~!" War Rock laughed.

"A monopoly on _what_?"

"On Subari~!"

Queen Tia lifted her right eyebrow slightly and Jack suddenly gulped: he began to look nervous.

"O-oi, neechan! Ya don't believe in this jerk, right?"

"… Who knows? Yet… That one over there reeks."

"Me? I reek? Why?" Shidou looked up from his "Sweet Candy" bar which he was unwrapping.

"Because of your provoking attitude…"

"Oi, oi… Let's not go over that again, shall we?"

"Queen Tia…" Dr. Yoiri called out.

"I will hold back but don't expect me to hold back forever. I don't give up so easily on my targets…" She replied.

"Crap." Misora grimly muttered.

"This child…" The Chief sighed.

"Probabilities of a disaster happening clock at 69%..." Acid calculated in a monotone tone of voice.

"Obviously…" Jack muttered.

"Subaru – kun… What's the safest place you can think of?" Misora suddenly asked him in a hushed tone.

"Huh… The HQ, I guess…?"

"Yeah! The HQ will do fine…" She grinned.

"… Hmpf. So… Running away… Whatever." Queen Tia sounded unimpressed.

"Why don't ya go back to your own nation and try to lead a reconstruction of it?" Shidou exasperatedly suggested.

"Everyone believes Jack and I died in the war. They wouldn't believe me to begin with." She countered.

"Crap."

"Ahem, ahem! Well! Let's make a cheer for Subaru: he saved the day again and this time he fought like never before!" Daigo exclaimed as he lifted Subaru's right arm as if to make him stand out.

"Bravo!" Utagai clapped.

"I knew you'd do it again, War Rock." Cygnus calmly told him.

"Heh! We're an unrivaled duo!"

"Buro~! And who was the one who sweat to defend Earth while ya were playing around, hmmm?" Ox brought up.

"Oi, Ox! Don't start the FM – AM war again, ya useless bull jerk!" War Rock grumbled.

"Uh-oh… Ox… Why don't ya…?" Gonta called out.

"Shaddup! This is my pride speaking!"

"You two! Behave!" Luna commanded.

"They won't listen." Mode predicted.

"Ya stole the Andromeda Key from ME after making me believe Cygnus had given me a fake!" Ox grumbled.

"Hmpf! So what!" War Rock shot back.

"Chances of this escalating into all-out-war clock at 83%..." Pedia whispered to Kizamaro.

"As expected…" He shrugged.

"B-B-B-Bertie~! Clark Kent – sama~ is about to claim Futaba as his "companion"!" Omega's voice rang out of Subaru's Hunter – VG all of a sudden.

"Omega – san… I don't fall for that anymore, sir!"

"You heard him, right?" Daigo grumbled.

"Amachi~! Your namesake wants to hire you~!"

"Namesake?" Amachi frowned.

"Urakata Mamorou – san?" Misora guessed.

"Come on! Our _kanji_ are way different!" Amachi grumbled.

"Ya never know!"

"Oi, Omega! Stop that already!" Shidou protested.

"Stop eating "Sweet Candy" or you'll become as thick as Fat Man from Dead Cell was!" Omega laughed.

"I dunno who he was and what does he has to do with this."

"Hey! Brad Shad! Aren't ya in the mood to date B-B-B-B-Bertie~? Tell me ya are!" Omega teased.

"No, sir! I am not, sir!" Blood Shadow protested.

"Eh… Sir Omega, I think that…" Sigma timidly muttered.

"OMEGA~!"

"Ops. Time to run for the defunct oil lamps!"

"Back to the capsule! I've had enough of your bullying behavior in which you try to stir up jealousy where there isn't!"

"Catch me, Super Man!"

"This guy…!" Vadous grumbled.

The line went dead and Subaru rolled his eyes, Daigo looked annoyed and Shidou cursed under his breath.

"That guy may be a good pilot and fighter, but when it comes to socializing then he fails at it." He grumbled.

"Totally!" Daigo muttered.

"Huh! Sorry! I'm late… I ran into some traffic jam!" Detective Goyouda panted as he ran in.

"Detective Goyouda! It's been a while, sir!" Subaru smiled.

"Yeah, yeah… Eh… Is there anything left?"

"Here. Some champagne." The Chief handed him a cup.

"Thanks, Chief!" He smiled.

"You've gotta be proud, eh, Subaru?" Daigo asked.

"Yeah… I wonder where Solo ran off to… I guess he's not that fond of parties, so he's probably gone back to the Bermuda Labyrinth to train again…" Subaru muttered.

"Actually, he told me he's going to prepare for the next "step" in the "competition"…" War Rock teased.

"Oh. Fan – tas – tic. I preferred him serious, really!"

"Everyone! Cheers!" Daigo rallied.

They all lifted their cups into the air and laughed…

18:18 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmpf. Those guys inside of that building must be feeling totally confident that their troubles are over by now… How foolish, really! I laugh at it. The problem is never gone until the very root is exterminated: that's the number one principle in crisis handling!"

A not-so-tall figure was standing in the mountains near the valley where the WAXA Japan Branch and Satella Police HQ building had been erected at: it was largely unlit yet its eyes' irises glowed with a red coloring and the eyes depicted seriousness.

"Soon… I will get the last piece of info I need. I've located the "shells" and I know how to assemble them back, but if I want to allow for my "tribe" to rise back into being the empire it was… I have to gather an army. But it won't be something just like that ridiculous repetitive and plebeian mechanical army… No. It will be like in the times of glory, but… I will build an advanced "elite" troop capable of countering the modern Denpa – Henkan users… But I need schematics and instructions to do that… I will get them… And removed the obstacles from the way… While they are moved by anger and impatience… I will quickly collect the "shells" and fuse them together with my "orb"… Heh, heh, heh…"

The figure rummaged into a backpack and took out a black-colored orb made of circuitry boards covered by transparent plastic: some sparks of reddish electricity sometimes formed on its surface: the figure grinned and held it with both hands as if peering into it.

"Power… This thing accumulates atmospheric Denpa to function… It's self-autonomous… Heh, heh, heh. Yet… What barbarians! To think they built such a repulsive facility over the temple… Hmpf! They deserved what they got for insulting the Bloodthirsty God of Essence… Whatever… Once I gather the "shells" and fuse them together… The "Ultimate Power" shall be formed! And now that the Mu tribe is long extinct… Nothing will stop my tribe from regaining its old territories! Mwah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

The figure held it up the moonlight as it laughed aloud…

**THE END**


End file.
